Unconnected Love
by xxluvstrukxx
Summary: Summer Love sees Heartache when The gang takes a trip to the beach for the weekend. Then Gabby has to go leaving a hurt Troy in the process.
1. Time sucks

The clock seemed to be moving slower and slower, as I stared at it desperately wishing it would just get to 2:20 already. Everyone around me was relaxing and talking the their friends while the teacher tried hopelessly to get us to pay attention to her. 2:15. Great… it's only been 2 minutes since the last time I looked up at the gold and red clock.

"You do know that time flies when you're having fun" A blonde behind said into my ear. Well that doesn't help me, because there was not possible way I could be having fun cooped up in this classroom! It's such a stupid saying anyway, because and hour before we left last year for Caribbean I went outside with my little brother to play basketball in an attempt to make time go faster. I went inside in what seemed like centuries, only to find out that I had only been playing for 10 minutes. I turned around frustrated. I just wanted to get out of this hellhole, they call school.

"Aw gee, thanks for your wisdom shar." I said sarcastically. No offence or anything, but I mean Sharpay? What kind of name is that anyway? Was she really that ugly when she was born that her parents named her after a dog? I mean, she's my friend and everything but I can't get over the fact that she's named after something that needs to get checkups for the flees.

"I guess you're still excited to go to Florida even though you'll miss it." Right. She just had to bring up the 'it' that was staying with her for the summer. She can try, but I won't feel guilty. But that's just Sharpay. she has to get everything she wants, because her dad owns like half of the stores in the state.

I sighed. "Yeah Sharpay. Still excited." I could see her opening her mouth to say something, but I quickly said something else, so she wouldn't start pestering me once again, trying to get me to stay.

"so… uh… what are you going to do with uh…them anyway?" I hated referring to them and 'them' and 'it', but she wouldn't tell me who exactly was coming to stay with her which irritated me to the point of staying up at night just wondering who they were.

"I don't know. Show them around? Go to the movies, hang out, take them in a ride in the jet" she replied.

"WHAT?! That's not fair; you never let me ride in the jet." Which wasn't completely true because when I passed out in New York, her dad had us take it back to Albuquerque so I could go to the hospital there. But it's not like I was conscious during the flight. I still don't get why I couldn't just go to the hospital in New York, but I never asked.

"Well I've known them longer, and haven't seen them in almost 2 whole years!"

"That's still not fair!" I screamed back at her loud enough for her to become startled but not enough to cause too much attention from the kids around us.

At that exact moment the bell rang causing me to jump. Perfect timing. Right? Just as I was about to get her to agree on letting me ride in the jet. I don't even see why she won't' let any of us fly in it. It's not like we're terrorists.

"when are you leaving anyway?" she asked when we reached our lockers that weren't very far from each other.

"Tonight at 8." I replied. I still had to pack which would give me something to do whie waiting I guess.

"Good then come over at like 5, 5:30."

"But I still have to pack."

"That won't take you 6 hours to do." I sighed. There was no use trying to argue.

"Fine." I answered while shutting my locker for the last time for the school year.

"Good see you later then Troy." She said while walking out of the building toward her car.


	2. She's the it?

**Troy's POV**

I Probably could've handled the situation that now ruined my summer a little better than I did. I probably shouldn't have screamed, and yelled but it was all I could've thought to do. Aw, who the hell am I kidding? This sucks and they should hear it loud and clear! I'm a 17 year old guy who wanted to see girls in bikinis. Now that's all down the drain. This is all my aunts fault! She disappears for 8 months calling about 4 times a week reminding us not to worry, then returns knocked up. She says that she got pregnant while she was away on a vacation in Puerto Rico, but I'm pretty sure that Uncle Tom got her pregnant before they got a divorce.

I walked to Shar's house ealier then I thought because I got there at 4. Which I didn't mind doing because I'd rather be at her house than at mine right now. So I reached the door but it opened before I could knock.

"Hey Troy. What are you doing here? It's only 4. I said 5." She said walking past me and opening her convertible door.

"Uh… yeah. I had nothing else to do." I replied climbing into the passenger seat. Which seemed to confuse her because she stared at me for 10 seconds before proceeding to climb in herself. But I didn't care. I wasn't going back to my house.

"I thought you had to pack for Florida?"

"Not going anymore." I answered while playing with the radio.

"Yes!!" I glared at her. "I mean… that's so sad. Why not?"

"Aunt went forth and multiplied." I said turning up the volume.

She turned it back down, which really irritated me but didn't say anything because I'd be kicked out of the car.

"You aunt is PREGNANT!" she practically screamed. I didn't see what the big deal was. Yes, she was pregnant. God. Deal with it. What did she care anyway? It wasn't her aunt. But if it was, I would still be packing for Florida right now.

"TROY!" I turned and looked at her shocked and confused. Why was she screaming? "answer me"

"Yeah, she's pregnant. Why?" she stopped the car. I hope she's not kicking me out for getting side tracked. Shit! I can't walk back home. That would suck. I would walk into a house with my sister yelling at my mom and my mom yelling at my dad. And normally I'd be there for my dad to yell at, but I'm here, so I don't know who he's yelling at. But I'm glad it's not me.

"get out." She simply said. Unlocking the car door and reaching into her purse. What was she looking for? I don't see how she could find anything anyway. It's so messy in there. What else do you need besides your wallet and cell phone. They'd fit in her jeans. I once tried to navigate through my mom's purse because I needed money that she wouldn't give me but I was caught by my sister, who of course, told on me. I was grounded for a month. Which really sucked because there were a lot of parties that month.

"What? Why?" I asked. I really didn't want to get out.

"I have to go to the air port!" I looked around and we were outside Chad's house. Oh thank god.

"Yeah ok!" I said as I was running up his drive way to join him and Jason in a basketball game.

"Hey dude!" Jason greeted me as Chad threw me the ball.

"Hey guys." I simply replied throwing the ball at the basket making it in perfectly. "What's up"

"I hear you aren't going to Florida because your aunt is preggo." Chad replied while grabbing the ball and passing it to Jason. How the hell did he know that anyway?

"News travels fast…" I replied still wondering who could've told him that when I didn't even know until like 20 minutes ago.

"So it is true. Man that sucks. I once….!" Jason trailed looking past me. Something had to of caught his eye because he wouldn't stop staring. I turned around and saw Rebecca Daniels making her way from across the street over to us. Her posse wasn't that far behind.

Rebecca Daniels isn't the world's prettiest girl but she sure as hell wasn't the ugliest. She has curly long blonde hair, and sky blue eyes. She isn't a cheerleader, though you might think she was because of the clothes she wears. She is actually really smart and down to Earth and Jason is practically in love with her.

"Hey Jason." She smiled after his name, which she often does. Does that mean she likes him? Or that she just wants to seem polite. Girls are so confusing. Once I met a girl who gave me her ice-cream only to throw it at my face. I was so mad. And then my mom came up to me and said she did that because she likes you. Who does that? You don't see me going up to some girl throwing a pickle at her because I think she's hot. Of course, this happened in the 1st grade. But still.

"Uh… hey… Becca. I mean Rebecca." How much more obvious can you be? "your pretty." I spoke to soon.

Jason was never good with girls but I've never actually seen him suck this bad. We really should teach him to talk to them.

"Thanks" She giggled out. Then looked at me and chad who were shaking our heads at Jason. "Hey guys… Playing basketball I see." We both nodded. Yes, that's why we were holding a basketball. Duh!

"Well then I guess we'll go. See ya later Jason." She said smiling once more at Jason then walking away. Wow, she smiles a lot.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

We heard a honking noise coming from outside just as we making our way to the fridge. What is it with the timing now-a-days? It just sucks. Of course it was Shar. But she was with someone I didn't recognize at all.

Chad and Jason rushed outside. What was going on? Why were they running? I wasn't that far behind them when I saw the person more clearly. She had sparkly chocolate brown eyes that lit up when she smiled, and Dark brown curly hair. She was wearing a pink sweat jacket with matching pink pants and a white tank top sticking out from under the sweat shirt. I couldn't help but stare. She was just so beautiful.

"Gabriella, this is Troy, Jason, and Chad." Sharpay informed her and then looked at me expecting me to say something. But I couldn't think. I was too busy looking at _her_. Who was this anyway?

"I.. uh… hey" I managed to spit out. Now I see what Jason means by talking to girls is harder than it looks. Normally I would disagree because I talk to girls all the time but she was different. Way different.

"Troy, Jason, and Chad, This is Gabriella Montez. The one I was telling you about." Sharpay finally said.

"_You're_ the _it_?" I stupidly asked as if I was a 5 year old girl that just saw a spider. 


	3. First Encounters

**Troy's POV**

How much more stupid could I have been? I basically implied that I didn't think she was a person. Sharpay shot me a glance that could kill.

"I... uh… guess?" Gabriella said, but it was more like a question. I hope she's not too offended because she's really hot and I wouldn't mind getting to know her… if you know what I mean. Not that I have ever had sex before. I mean, Chad and Jason think I have, but in all honesty, I am still a virgin.

"Well, you see Shar wouldn't tell us who you were… so I called you an 'it'. But you obviously aren't an 'it'. I mean I was actually expecting one of her boyfriends. But you came along. But don't get me wrong, I don't mind. I'm actually happy you aren't a guy. And that's..." Thankfully Chad and Jason knocked me out of my misery by pushing me a bit.

"He's uh…. Sick." Chad tried. But I felt fine. I was just… not seeing anything else. Nothing and nobody besides Gabriella. Damn she's hot.

She giggled and blushed. Wow. She's so cute when she giggles. I was about to say something else but Sharpay started talking.

"So, I was going to introduce her to Mitch... see what he thinks about her." Damn it Shar. Don't introduce her to the asshole! He's wanted everything I had since 2nd grade when he stole my animal crackers. Of course, Gabriella isn't mine. But still.

"Uh… Mitch?" Gabriella asked half-heartedly. Maybe she's not interested. Maybe she actually likes me. Or maybe she has a boyfriend back where she came from. I could feel a frown coming across my face.

"Yeah… he's totally hot. If we're lucky maybe we'll catch him with his shirt off."

"Hot if you're into blonde haired, steroid using jerks" She deserved to know. He would only use her then throw her in the garbage for the next bikini wearing girl to walk his way. Dick Head.

"Ignore him… c'mon." And just as fast as they came, they were gone. Probably on their way to the lake down the street, where Mitch hooks up with the cheerleaders mostly every night.

"Dude…" I turned to see Chad and Jason shaking their heads in disgust. It wasn't my fault… She was just… so… Well I can't explain it.

"What?" I tried to act like I had no idea what they were talking about. It didn't work much because they just interrogated me in the house while eating pizza. Some of the questions didn't even have any relevance to her, but they insisted on me answering truthfully. Which half of the questions I did. The other half I either stretched the truth or didn't tell the whole truth.

That night I got in so much trouble for staying out past midnight, which I normally wouldn't get in as much trouble as I would if I hadn't of stormed out of the house earlier. They were pissed that I didn't call to tell them where I was, but I doubt they would've answered the phone anyway. They probably wouldn't hear it ring over their yelling. Don't get me wrong though, they aren't always yelling. But when they get started, it can last for days on end.

**Gabriella POV **

Meeting Sharpay's new friends wasn't supposed to be fun, but it kinda was. Like the afro guy is so funny. I think his name was Chad, or maybe that one was Jason? I'm not good with names at all. The highlight was meeting the sandy haired boy.

He had extremely sexy hair that fell into his eyes in the perfect way. His eyes got a light blue color when he smiled and had a sparkle in them. When he was nervous they would change to a little darker shade, probably because he was getting aggravated with himself and they would squint because he was credibly getting mixed up in his rambling. And when he frowned after Sharpay brought up Mitch his eyes turned a shade darker and his eyebrows crinkled. He looked and smelled like he just walked out of an Abercrombie & Fitch catalogue. Not even joking.

"GABRIELLA!?" I jumped andnoticed that the car was parked next to a tall shady tree. I looked around andsaw tons of teens from the range of 14-19 talking to their friends. I noticed a group of boys around our age playing football, but stopped looking when I heard my name being called again by Sharpay.

"Yeah?"

"Are you ok? You've been acting weird ever since we left the house. I'm convinced that you hear nothing I was saying during the car ride I mean…" I let myself zone out again. Only to be brought back hearing her say his name. "…Troy is just a loser. I swear I didn't tell him to call you an 'it' or 'thing' or whatever he called you…" Troy… I like that name.

"No, Shar. I was just thinking. That's all. So where's this so called Mitch?" I faked a smile and climbed out of the hot pink convertible. I looked over at the football game once again, only to see this blonde haired guy tackle a shorter brown haired one. I figured they were the popular group and wanted to stay far away from them. I was insulted constantly people like that at my school. I didn't need it to happen here too.

"C'mon." She took my hand and dragged me over to, where-else, the football game. Great just great… Thanks Sharpay.

"Hey Mitch." Sharpay finally said looking at the blonde haired kid who I just saw tackle the other one.

"Sup? Who's this?" he asked looking at me andsmiling. I couldn't help but smile back; it wasn't often that an extremely hot guy smiled at me. Well I mean there was Troy but he was just doing that because he's Sharpay's friend. Mitch didn't even have to care, Sharpay didn't even introduce us yes, but he did. He cared.

"This is…" Sharpay started but I cut her off.

"I'm Gabriella." I stuck out my hand and he shook it. Hm… he has nice, soft hands. I took a quick look at him, and then at the boys standing behind him growing impatient. "Well… uh… you should go and finish your game."

"Will you be here when I get back?" I couldn't help but giggle. He was just so cute. He wasn't that tall, but taller than me. He had green eyes that seemed bright and filled with excitement. He hadn't reached a 6 pack yet, but wasn't that far from it and his arms were huge. I thought about what Troy said earlier about the steroids and backed away a little.

"Uh… Possibly." I looked down at the ground. My confidence was slowly fading once again. He just smiled then turned around and started playing again. Damn it! He probably didn't want me anymore because I was so shy.

Sharpay started heading back to her convertible leaving me standing alone and confused until I started following her. When we reached her car she simply told me to back up andgo watch the game. I didn't want to stay by myself though. What was this!? I was her friend and am visiting her and she wants to abandon me in a park I've never been to and with a guy I haven't met before!?! I don't think so! I just climbed into the passenger seat until she started driving away.

"You should stay! It's not everyday that hottie talks to you."

"Oh gee, thanks Shar."

"You know what I mean." I really didn't. So Mitch talked to me. Who the hell cares? She called him over anyway.

"Fine." She sighed. "We'll just go back to my house then and invite everyone over to my house."

"Shar, it's like midnight." I wasn't used to staying up all night. And I wasn't used to having guys at sleepovers either. Not that I minded. I am a 17 year-old girl. And I can do what I want! I just never thought that I'd get the chance to havea boy-girl sleepover, but I'm kind of nervous. Is that normal.

"What's your point?"

"Won't they all be asleep?" I know I would be.

"Maybe… and if they are then we forget about them. Grab my phone and text Taylor, Chad, Jason, and Troy." TROY??? No, no, no. Troy can't be there.

"uh… fine." I started to type in the words _Party at mine tonight. _But wouldn't that attract more than just them. Hm.. I've never really had a sleepover at my house. Strict parents. So I hit the back key and started over. _Sleepover at my house. You in?_ I smiled proudly as the last text sent.

"You sent it to everybody?"

"Yeah…" I just 'forgot' about Troy.

**Troy's POV**

The next day I went to Sharpay's house to pick up some summer reading papers and noticed everyone spread out on the floor sleeping. Great… Sleepover without me. I wouldn't have been able to go anyway, but an invite would be nice.

I looked around for the papers so i wouldn't have to wake up Sharpay and saw Gabriella. She was wrapped in one of Sharpay's old pink blankets rolled into a ball. She looked really peaceful and cute, breathing slowly and steadily. I spotted the papers on the table next to Sharpay, which happened to also be next to Gabriella and started walking over Chad. He started to move making me trip and fall right next to her.

She jolted awake and looked at me terrified like she was about to scream.

"Wait it's just m…" It was too late she screamed at the top of her lungs directly into my ear. By the time she finally stopped everyone was awake and looked at me like they were going to kill me.

"Well, good morning" That was all I could think of saying.

"TROY BOLTON!!!" Nobody mess with Sharpay in the morning. She gets SO cranky.

"I just needed the summer reading list, and so I saw it on the table and then Chad tripped me and then she screamed, quite loud if I may add." I really needed to get home before my parents woke up.

"Fine… HERE take it!!!" She threw it at me and rolled back over to go to sleep again. Thank god she didn't jump on me like the last time I accidentally woke her up. That would have hurt considering yesterday when I was trying to sneak up through the window into my room I missed a step andfell backward down the tree towards the ground.

"Thank you." I said and quickly got up and ran to the door.

"Hey man, why didn't you come?" chad asked. Stupid Chad. I don't want to say that I wasn't invited. How pathetic would that look.

"Y-yeah. We invited you." Gabriella spoke up. God, I love that voice.

"Well, I didn't get a text. Besides I'm grounded." I shrugged and opened the door hoping nobody else would ask another question or anything like that.

"Well, maybe next time." Taylor said. Hey! It's Taylor! When did she get back from England? Why wasn't I informed? Maybe my phone is broken.

"When did you get back?"

"Yesterday." She replied. Taylor is a reliable person and friend. If everyone else in the group hates you, and sometimes she hates you too, she still tries to find the good side to the situation and helps you. This is extremely aggravating when you're the one that mad at the other person, but when you're the one no one likes it's like a life vest.

"When are you leaving again?" She always goes away. If not this week it's the next week then she's back again.

"2 weeks" she only stays here when it's the school year. And most of the time she takes off the first, and last week of it.

"Let's go to the beach before Taylor has to leave again!" Sharpaypractically screamed while shooting up. "we'll go next weekend for a week."

Another thing I won't be able to do. Stupid parents. Shit! Parents. I really have to go…

"ok… well you discuss and text me the plans." I said walking out of the door and running all the way home, which actually wasn't that far.

"What are you doing outside son?" Great….


	4. What the hell?

**Troy's POV**

I don't really know why I didn't get in that much trouble. In fact, I didn't get in any more trouble than I already was in. My dad just put his keys into the ignition and drove away without saying more than 'good bye'.

So many explanations were now running through my head. It was probably just work though. He works in this huge building in the city, on the 30th floor to be exact. My dad's definitely not the dad of the year. He's barely an actual dad because he's NEVER home. But I guess most lawyers are extra busy to pay any attention to who they live with.

I entered a quiet house, which was also extremely unusual after what happened last night. I looked at the clock that was programmed into the cable box. 10:09. My mom should be making pancakes right now. What the hell happened when I was gone?

**Gabriella's POV**

I sighed with relief. That was a close one. Sharpay would kill me if she found out that I didn't actually invite Troy, and he would've thought that I hated him. Which I don't. Trust me, I don't.

"So, beach?" The beach actually didn't sound that bad. I've never really been to a beach before, but from what I heard it's pretty and relaxing.

"I don't know If I can…" Chad said. I looked over at him and he was looking down towards his blue and white sleeping bag. "You see, I kinda already made plans with… uh… Mitch?"

"WHAT!!" Startled, I looked over at Jason who looked like he was going to kill Chad. Why did everyone hate Mitch anyway?

"Well, you see…. He invited me to his house in Florida. And I figured well Troy is going to Florida, and Taylor was already in England, and Jason was going to Japan for a week, why can't I have some fun too?"

Nobody spoke for a while, and I tried to read everyone's faces. Chad was still looking down at his sleeping bag trying to avoid eye contact: ashamed. And Jason was looking towards the door trying to figure out whether to storm out or not: Anger. Sharpay was looking through her purse smiling to only herself and her make up: excitement? And Taylor was doing what I was doing, looking at everyone else: pure confusion.

"What the hell?!" Jason finally said. "We hate him!"

"Actually you and Troy are the only ones who hate him!!" Chad gained confidence in his argument.

"W-well we could just ALL go to the beach…" This argument was annoying me. It was such a small problem with an easy solution.

"NO WAY AM I GOING TO THE BEACH WITH MITCH!!"

"Why do you hate him so much?" I had successfully held in that question for a day now, but my curiosity got the best of me.

Everyone turned their heads toward me then towards Jason waiting for a response.

"well… i… Troy told me things that he's done…" Jason managed to spit out. My need to get to the bottom of things was all I could think about now.

"So, you hate him because Troy does?"

"NO! I hate him because I hate him!"

"But he hasn't actually done anything to you to make you hate him?"

"y--- well no, not exactly…"

"ok, then answer me this. If Troy didn't hate him, would you?" I suddenly felt powerful. No longer the weak Gabriella that everyone knows.

**Jason's POV**

What the hell? This girl just comes here from Brazil or something and tells me off. NO ONE does that! I repeat NO ONE!!!!!!!!

**Troy's POV**

Alright, I was the new hated child of the family. Normally, my cousin Benny is, but I have officially stolen that title from him. You see, after I stormed out last night, they got to talking and blamed eachother for my actions. But my mom insisted that it was his personality in me, and my dad didn't want to argue anymore so he just agreed. But then I snuck out this morning and that just drew the last straw. So she kicked him out of the house.

My mom wasn't exactly happy with me, but she didn't send me to my room or anything. She just told me to do whatever I wanted for the rest of my life, since I don't listen to her anymore. Yep, she successfully used the guilt trick. Now I'm just lying on the bed wondering what would have happened if I just waited and asked if I could go to Shar's. My thoughts were interrupted by my phone vibrating from under my pillow.

_Hey. We're going to the Beach tomorrow._

_Leaving at 12:00 noon._

_Hope you can come._

_xxSharxx_

Normally I would've just ignored the text, but I had a sudden urge to yell at someone. Poor Sharpay. She just had to be the one who texted me. So I responded by saying "I CAN'T GO! Parents now getting a divorce because of me!!!! Grounded for LIFE!!"

This wasn't even my fault! Yeah, I snuck out twice in 2 days. But that's what teenagers do. It's like a written law stating that every teen should sneak out at least once in their life. They can't just blame me for their stupid marriage ending. It's not like he was ever home anyway. Always out at the office, or so he says. Again my stupid phone had to vibrate interrupting my thought. Only this time it was Mitch. Mitch? What the hell?

**Gabriella's POV**

Lying on Sharpay's pink covered feather bed was so much more comfortable than her living room floor. Looking around her room, you would've thought it was a luxury suite at the world's fanciest hotel. But that's just Sharpay, I guess. I mean if I were rich I'd probably do my room the same way, just not so much pink.

"Alright, So you can either borrow one of my bathing suits, or we can just go down to the mall and see what we can find there."

"Shar, Your kidding right? I can't afford a bathing suit without spending all of my money on it." I hate it when she rubs in the fact that she has like all the money in the world because he daddy is rich. While I have to bring my OWN money that I work for at a job that only pays minimum wage.

"Well, I'd pay of course."

"Shar, I have my own bathing suit."

"ugh… fine. Whatever. Here." She said while handing me the phone. I sighed and picked it up. "see if anyone responded"

I opened up her Envy 2 and saw a text from Troy, not sure if I should open it or not.

"Uh… yeah. Troy replied." I said looking up at her for the first time since we walked into the room. She completely changed her outfit and was now straightening her hair.

"Well what did he say?" Her tone was impatient and she wasn't trying to hide it either. So I opened up the text and was shocked to read:

_I CAN'T GO! Parents now getting a divorce because of me!!!!_

_Grounded for LIFE!_

_~Troy_

I didn't know what to say, or do. I mean, I've never received news this bad that wasn't even supposed to be for me.

"Uh… Shar. I think you should read this yourself." I said as I got up and handed her, her phone. She snatched the phone from me and made her way to the door.

"What the hell??" Was the last thing I heard before she pulled me outside and started her car.

**Hey Guys. Sorry for the Delay. I was in DC, and saw some friends I hadn't seen in like FOREVER! I know that this series is boring right now. But it'll get better once they get to the beach. I have to get the stupid introduction to the characters out of the way for now. But in the next eppy they'll probably be getting to the beach. Thanks for reading! **


	5. Reunited

**Troy's POV**

The banging on the front door was a very clear sign that Shar had unfortunately gotten my text. I hadn't actually meant to tell her, but I couldn't hold my anger in anymore. IT WASN'T MY FAULT!!!

"Open this Damn Door, Troy!" I was completely happy with the door locked and shut. She should just leave and go to the beach, with everyone but me.

"Please?" Gabriella was here now too?? What the hell is Sharpay's problem! Not that I didn't like Gabriella, it's just… Gabriella wasn't supposed to see the text. No one but Sharpay was.

Then they just stopped. There was no more obnoxious knocking. Sharpay just stopped yelling. Curious, I went to the door and put my ear against it. They were whispering and I was straining to hear what they were saying.

"Shar… you can't just yell at him. He probably feels bad enough." But I shouldn't feel bad. It's not my fault! Sure, that's what I said. But I changed my mind. It's so far from my fault. Not even funny.

"But he needs to open up that door! I need to talk to him!" More like yell!

"No, you want to yell at him!" That's what I just said. I smiled to myself, she is just like me. "Look, you need to understand that he just wants some space. So what? He can't come to the beach. You'll see him in a week to two, and then maybe he'll want to talk then." I don't want space, and I want to go to the beach, AND I DON'T WANT TO TALK!

I slowly opened my bedroom door to find them sitting on the floor next to the bathroom. They both looked up at me probably looking for the right words to say. In all honesty I didn't want them to say anything.

"I want to go to the beach" I finally managed to spit out. There were a couple moments of silence before the brunette finally spoke up.

"Ok. Then come. We're leaving in an hour or two."

"BUT I CAN'T!!!!" I didn't mean to raise my voice, but I did. They both jumped back a little and Gabriella hit her head on the wall, which made me want to laugh a little, but I couldn't. I was angry so I just started pacing.

"Ok… then you can just ask to come… I'm sure your mom won't mind." I just looked at her and she shut her mouth.

After about ten minutes of silence and pacing I got tired of walking so I sat across from them against the wall. They were just looking at me as I was looking at them.

"Sorry. I'll be right back." I said standing back up and walking into my room. I quickly scanned my room, picking up dirty or clean clothes; I didn't really have time to smell them. I grabbed my cell and my cell phone charger from my desk, and a couple of towels from the closet. I quickly stuffed them into my basket ball bag then looked around my room one last time.

Once we got downstairs I got a couple of 20's from my top secret hiding spot and wrote a note to my mom telling her that I needed to go to the beach for a week because it's not my fault and I shouldn't be in trouble for something I didn't do. Then I walked out to Sharpay's car with Gabriella and Sharpay following me.

They hadn't said anything since Gabriella tried to talk to me. I normally feel very awkward if it's silent but at this moment I didn't care. I just sat in the passenger seat and put my head on my hand.

**Gabriella's POV**

It's sad really. Of course it wasn't his fault but he has to keep reminding himself of it. I didn't want to say anything else because of fear of getting yelled at again. But it was all good now. He managed to convince himself enough to get out of the house and go to the beach.

"Hey, can you turn it up?" Music was my release. It spoke to me whether it was happy, sad, or just one of those songs about sex. Maybe if Troy listened to something it wouldn't make him feel so bad. I saw him reach over and turn up the volume to the song 'Don't Trust me'.

Sharpay started laughing and Troy did too. Ok, I think I was missing something.

"uh… what's so funny?" I couldn't help but sound confused because… well, I was.

"This is the song Troy dances to when he is high." Ok, I know that I should've expected him to do drugs or drink. I mean he is a teenager and everything. But I mean come on! Does he pay attention to his health teacher? I should've known. Every guy I like… not that I like him, is a complete dud.

"I wasn't high… I was just really, really hyper!" I sighed with relief. He wasn't high, he was just hyper! Then again, he could've just not been high at that moment in time. Possibly, he gets high every night and orders hookers off the internet. Maybe—

"Alright, we have to pack so let's go." I jumped out of the car.

**Troy's POV**

I opened Sharpay's refrigerator, trying to be as quiet as possible. Once I successfully opened it, I looked only to find Fruits and vegetable and those Yoplait yogurts. You know the kind that supposedly isn't as bad for you as other yogurts. So I opened the cupboards and only saw those stupid Oreo 100 calorie packs. They weren't even real Oreos.

I shut the cupboard and sighed. There was nothing to eat in this house! So I went back to the fridge and picked up an apple. As I was washing it I heard yelling coming from the other room so I quickly but quietly made my way to the door, that was slightly opened, and listened.

"Shut the hell up Mitch!" Jason rarely got this mad. Mitch must've done something very stupid, like always. Wait, why was Mitch even here?

"c'mon Jason it's not that bad…" Why the hell is Chad defending Mitch?

"Yeah, Seriously man. It's just a week. And then I'll be out of your way." Shut up Mitch.

"Just wait until Troy hears about this!!!" Why am I always dragged into every argument now-a-days.

I heard foot steps coming toward the door so I quickly went back to the opened fridge and pretended to just be getting my apple out. Great, It was mitch.

"oh… uh. Hey." All those years of him finding something smart to say to me, usually an insult, and that's what he says! He's invading my friends, and my vacation. Asshole.

I went over to the sink and washed my apple for the second time. Then Chad walked in.

"Mitch c'mon. Oh, uh hey." Stupid, stupid Chad. I took a bite of my apple, the only thing preventing me from yelling at this moment, and just nodded at him. I didn't need to lose my temper just yet. I mean Mitch hasn't done anything yet. YET!

**Gabriella's POV**

The yelling that was going on downstairs was just a preview of later on tonight when we're actually at the beach. Well that's what Sharpay said anyway. She also said that Jason isn't the kind of person to let things go, and sometimes neither is Troy. When I asked her what happened, she only said some things are better left unsaid and to just leave it at that.

"Maybe we should just go down and check on them. Make sure no one is bleeding."

"Trust me, once Mitch and Troy are reunited there will be plenty of blood." Oh my God! Does no one but me find that wrong?

"Gabriella, chill. This always happens. But it's mostly just Troy and Mitch doing stuff to completely ruin the other's life. It rarely results to physical actions." Thank God. I'm starting to like Taylor.

"But if Troy is downstairs, and Mitch is downstairs, what's to say they don't bump into each other?"

"Not bragging, but my house is really big. They're not going to bump into each other." And that's when we heard the loud crash.

"I swear to God if they broke one of my mom's vases!" And that's when we heard the screaming.

"Well maybe Gabriella is right. Maybe we should check it out down there." Alright, it's official. Taylor is my new BFF.

After we followed Sharpay downstairs we saw all four boys standing around the counter and in the center of them were little tiny pieces of glass. Not to say I told you so…

"Who did it?" Sharpay said rather calmly actually. Strange, she'd normally be screaming. But sometimes Sharpay's calmness is scarier than her actual yelling.

Mitch pointed to Troy and Troy pointed to Mitch. Are they seriously that immature?

"WHO THE HELL DID IT!" Jason pointed to Mitch. Not a surprise there. Chad doesn't seem like the kind of person that will automatically go with his best friend, so I think Sharpay was waiting on him to tell her.

"Chad!?!?!" Chad was looking back and forth between Troy and Mitch before pointing to Troy. And Mitch just smiled.

"What the fuck Chad!" Troy screamed.

"Troy, I'm not going to lie." Chad said while looking down.

"I can't believe you'd make your best friend lie on your behalf. That's low Troy, even for you." Mitch said looking at Troy smiling.

That's when I realized that Troy probably didn't break the vase and Mitch was an ass hole.

"You're dead." Troy said looking at Mitch before exiting the room with Jason following him.

And that's when I realized that this trip was going to be longer than expected.


	6. Amusement Park

**Gabriella's POV**

We got to the Sharpay's beach house after the longest car ride of my life even though it was only 3 hours. You might think I'm exaggerating but Mitch farted in Troy's face during the first ten minutes of the long ride and then Troy retaliated by picking his nose with a tissue and then accidentally throwing it into Mitch's mouth when he was talking. Like I said, it was a VERY long ride.

Everyone, quickly got out of the car, and Troy insisted on carrying my bags into the house. How nice of him. Although, it might just be his way of saying 'I'm sorry for spilling my coke all over you when I was trying to aim for Mitch.' Oh well, as long as I didn't have to carry my own stuff.

Now I'm in mine and Taylor's room. Sharpay of course gets her own room and Troy, Mitch, Chad, and Jason all have to share one big room. I didn't mind having Taylor as a roommate. She didn't seem to be the kind of person who will be up all night partying, but the kind that actually did their homework. Smart. She seemed to be organized which was perfect because I had my own system and everything needed to be in order. I guess you could say I had OCD.

"So you seem to be fond of Troy…" She trailed off so I didn't know if I should answer her or not, or even if there was a question to answer at all.

"Nah, I just met him." I said after several minutes of awkward silence. She just kept on unpacking her clothes into the dresser closest to her bed.

"Alright, so do you girls want to hit the beach before it gets dark?" Sharpay said entering without knocking.

"Sure!" Taylor was more than enthusiastic to go. I'm kind of offended. I answered her question didn't I?

"Uh… I have a lot to unpack. I'll meet you guys there in an hour or so." I answered looking toward my suitcase still filled with my neatly folded clothes. I didn't think it was a good idea anyway if we left the boys by themselves.

"Fine, see ya later." Sharpay said standing and walking out of the room.

"Are you sure you don't want to come?" Taylor asked looking back at me from the doorway.

"No no. Go have fun." I said and smiled at her before looking once again at my suitcase.

"Ok... well bye." She said and exited the room. Several seconds later I heard two car doors slam and then the sound of the car driving away.

10 minutes later I managed to unpack all of my clothes and toiletries into their rightful places. I took off my coke covered shirt and put on a pink tank top. Then I put my hair into a messy bun and walked into the kitchen, which was fully stocked. Opening the fridge I saw those delicious Yoplait yogurt cartons and took one out.

"Shut the hell up!" was coming from the room down the hall and then the door slammed. I turned quickly to see Troy emerging from the shadows where the light didn't quite reach.

"Oh… Uh hey." He said and opened the fridge. A coke was in his hand when it emerged from the fridge.

"Uh... You should be careful with that. Don't spill it again."

"Yeah, sorry about that. Again."

"Nah, don't worry about it." I said while walking to the living room and sitting on the suede couch in front of the T.V.

He sat next to me and there was a long moment of silence before he turned on the T.V. He put on the movie 'Forrest Gump'.

"What's this?" I asked and he just looked at me funny.

"You mean you've never seen Forrest Gump?" Uh no... That's why I asked what it was, smarty.

"Um. No."

"That's just weird. No person should ever go without seeing Forrest Gump! He's a legend." Some legend. I've never heard of him.

After several minutes of arguing over what the best movie of all time was we just started talking. Talking about anything and everything. We talked about books, most of which he hadn't read, and songs. We talked about several T.V. Shows. I told him my favorite color, music artist, animal, and he told me his. It was easy to talk to someone when you weren't talking about anything that important, yet at the moment it meant everything to find out what the other person's opinion was. It was… nice.

Before today, I couldn't really tell you anything about Troy Bolton except for his looks. Hell, before today I couldn't tell you his full name. Which, for the record, is Troy David Alexander Bolton. I had so much fun sitting on that couch that I had no idea how much time had actually passed by until I heard my cell phone ringing from the counter. So I reluctantly got up from the spot I was sitting in and answered it.

"What the hell Gabriella?! You were supposed to meet us here over two hours ago!" Shit! Sharpay was mad…

"Uh... I got side tracked. I'm sorry." I said although I wasn't really sorry. I had more fun here than I would've tanning at the beach.

"That's no excuse. We're on our way home now, so you have time to get your story straight." And then she hung up.

"Sharpay?" Troy asked from the couch. He now had his feet stretched across the place that I was sitting and was looking up at me so I nodded. "What did she want?"

"I was supposed to meet them at the beach." I said looking at my watch to see if Sharpay was exaggerating by saying that I was 2 hours late but she wasn't.

"Well I can drive you there…" He offered as he suddenly sat up.

"You don't have a car genius. Besides they're on their way home now." I couldn't help but smile at him as he took the fact that he no longer had his car with him into consideration.

"Oh, well Sharpay is going to be mad at you…" He said and I laughed.

"Hey, did you know that we have been talking for nearly 3 hours?" I asked and he looked at the clock.

"Nope, didn't even notice." I sat right back down next to him.

"So… Your favorite color is blue because…?" I asked. I always thought that you needed a reason to like a color. Like if you liked yellow it might be because of the sun.

"What kind of question is that? How should I know?"

"Well you like it…" I said in a 'duh' tone and he just looked at me confused.

"I don't know why I like the color blue. Why do you like purple miss smarty pants?"

"Well because Purple symbolizes power, a quality everyone wants in their life. Purple is the color kings and queens wear, and the color they decorate their houses with." He looked at me taking everything into consideration. "Besides, purple is such a pretty color!"

"Wow… do you always think everything through like that?" I hadn't really thought about it as thinking it through. I just thought that you should have a reason.

"No. I don't think so." I answered waiting for him to continue.

"Then, why is your favorite month April?"

"Because, it's my birthday, and I like the rain." I replied. My answer made him frown.

"You think too much."

"What do you mean? How else are you supposed to judge a month?"

"Well I don't know. You get straight A's don't you?"

"Well… yeah. Don't you?" He laughed at me, and I realized that he obviously didn't get straight A's.

"Yeah right."

Then my phone buzzed and I took it out of my pocket. It was Taylor who had sent me a text.

_Get Ready. We're getting closer to the house._

"C'mon." I said as I got up and put on my flip flops while pulling him up from his spot on the chair.

"Where are we going?"

"Pizza place that we passed on the way here." I looked out the front window and saw Sharpay and Taylor turning the corner in her pink convertible.

"But, we don't have a car." My gosh, he's a complainer.

"We'll walk. Now let's go." I said as I pushed him quickly out the back door. He landed in the sand on his butt and I couldn't help but laugh at him. But then I heard the front door open and it wasn't funny anymore. So I pulled him up screaming "let's go" over and over again.

We sprinted across the sand away from the house but avoided the ocean. We must have run a while because I had to stop to catch my breath. He stopped beside me and looked like he could run miles on end.

"I don't have any shoes." He said and I looked at his bare feet.

"Why not?" I asked still out of breath.

"Because you pushed me out of the house maybe." He said in a 'duh' tone, which I didn't exactly appreciate.

I looked around in hope to see a shoe store around, but we were surrounded by sand and ocean. I was extremely thirsty and unfortunately lost so I kept walking straight.

"Do you even know where we are?" He asked after about 10 minutes of walking through the sand that never seemed to end.

"Depends on what you mean by are. I know we're at the beach." I answered and he groaned.

"Well, can't we just go back?" He asked.

"No, let's go there." I answered pointing to the lights coming from about a mile down the beach.

"The boardwalk? Isn't that just a whole bunch of stores and stuff?" He asked unappreciative of my finding.

"Well, with the stores we can buy you some shoes, and if we're at the boardwalk we can get a taxi back to the house. Not to mention the amusement park they have there."

"With like roller coasters?" he asked finally a little excited about where we were going.

"Of course." I replied not really wanting to go on any rides too big.

By the time we finally reached the boardwalk the sun was setting. I didn't mind it that much. The lights on the rides were pretty and so was the sun on the ocean. I looked at Troy and he was looking way up at the Ferris wheel.

"No." I told him and he looked at me confused. "I'm not going on that."

"Fine. But I'll have to drag you on that." He looked me and smiled devilishly.

Past the Ferris wheel there was a roller coaster that went a little higher than the Ferris wheel, and did at least 2 loopty loops. He's kidding. Right? Of course he wasn't because in the next second he grabbed my hand and pulled me all the way to the ride. Since it wasn't crowded, we got on right away.

"I'm going to kill you." I said as I was pulling down the restraint. He just laughed. I haven't ridden on a roller coaster this big before. I only ride the tiny ones in the kiddy parks.

It was extremely fast. I counted wrong, there were actually 4 loops. I screamed all the way through and Troy held my hand for the most part but he let go on the big hill to put his hands up. Don't get me wrong though, I liked it. Not the hand holding, the ride. But the hand holding was fun too.

Next we rode a ride called the claw. It's a basically a circle with seats on the sides and it swings so each section of seats goes into the air and looks directly toward the ground. I screamed through that entire ride too, and Troy held my hand again. I realized then, that it helps to act scared because guys pay attention to that. Every single ride after that I screamed and every single time he held my hand.

After the amusement park, we walked around the board walk. I bought him a pair of shoes, my choice. They ended up being Shoes with bunnies on them. I thought they were cute but he thought differently. He won me a teddy bear by throwing baseballs into giant milk bottles. I bought a sweatshirt because it was getting cold out, and he bought one too.

By the time we got back to the house it was 1 in the morning. Sharpay was nowhere in sight, but the guys were sitting on the couch and floor watching a movie. Taylor was there too but she was reading a book. They all looked up and Taylor just smiled at me.

"We went to the boardwalk. Where's Sharpay?" I asked trying to get them to stop staring.

"She went to look for you two." Taylor answered. Mitch, who had been one of the ones lying on the floor, looked down at Troy's feet.

"Aw.. those are cute Troy. Pick them out yourself?" He said and him and chad started laughing. Jason even smiled at the sight of him in bunny sneakers. Troy looked down and then up again.

"Yeah. You like them?" He said and walked into the kitchen grabbing a bag of chips.

"You just had a hot dog." I complained. What is it with guys and their humungous appetite? I just don't understand.

I opened up my phone and saw 20 missed calls and 5 texts. All from Sharpay. I quickly called her and told her to come back, then went into my room and gently placed my brand new giant teddy bear on the floor next to my bed. I smile at it then looked at my hand and put it against my face.

"So…? Just friends?" Taylor teased walking into the room.

"We just went to the boardwalk." I smiled looking back at her.

"Right, Just the boardwalk." She said as I pulled the covers of my bed up and crawled inside.


	7. Do I?

**Gabriella's POV**

I woke up at eight o'clock in the morning and looked around mine and Taylor's room, now covered in sunshine coming from the window. I looked toward Taylor's bed and noticed that she was still asleep so I climbed out of bed and grabbed a pair of clothes then made my way across the hallway to the bathroom to take a shower.

When I emerged from the bathroom, mostly everyone was asleep except Mitch who had made his way to the living room watching some show on MTV.

"Hey." He said looking back from the couch.

"Hey, why are you up so early?" When I woke up at 3 last night to go to the bathroom they were still up watching movies that were playing on the TV.

"Couldn't sleep." He simply responded and looked back to the TV so I assumed the conversation was over and made my way to the coffee pot. I didn't used to like coffee because it was bitter but my step mom always drank it in the morning and so she showed me how to make it taste better. 4 scoops of sugar, and a lot of milk. Not the healthiest, but it tasted good.

I sat down at the kitchen table and looked out the back window at the waves crashing into the sand on the beach.

"So I heard you and Troy had a grand old time at the boardwalk last night." He said obviously trying to start up another conversation.

"Yeah… I rode a roller coaster for the first time in like 10 years." I said smiling proudly at myself and he laughed.

"So… the bunny slippers?" I couldn't help but laugh at the memory of Troy in bunny slippers.

"That was my idea. I dragged him out of the house and he didn't have time to get any shoes." His mouth formed an 'o' shape and he nodded in understanding.

There was a long moment of silence so I thought of anything to say so it wouldn't be awkward anymore.

"Why do you hate each other?" It was the only thing that came to mind.

"He killed my mom!!!" Mitch said looking down. I was so shocked I couldn't think of anything to say so I just stared at him. He looked up at me smirking.

"You loser! You scared the shit out of me!!" I said laughing and throwing a paper plate that was on the table at him.

I heard impatient coughing coming from behind me so I turned around to see an angry Shar. There's only a little things worth screaming about in your life: snakes, spiders, global disasters, transportation disasters, the common rat, and an angry Sharpay.

"Where the hell were you yesterday!?! First you ditch us at the beach and then you just leave the house!"

"Ok, Sharpay before you do anything dramatic I was just outside walking and I saw some pretty lights in the distance so me and Troy, who was with me, decided to check out what it was. Turns out it was the board walk. So we decided to walk around, and ride some rides. I lost track of time which is why I didn't get back 'til one in the morning." I said as simply as I could.

"Why was Troy with you?" She asked smiling the biggest smile I've ever seen on her.

"She dragged him." Mitch mumbled in the background so I took another plate and threw it at him.

"Why did you drag him?" Sharpay asked still smiling that freaky smile, actually it was more of a grin now because she wasn't showing any teeth, but it was still freaky.

"She likes him…" Mitch again mumbled.

"DO NOT!" I screamed at him.

Sharpay just kept smiling as a tired Troy and an even more tired Jason emerged from their rooms. I glared at her and if to say 'You say anything and I'll kill you.' Of course I wouldn't exactly kill her, but It'd come pretty close.

"So… Troy?" Sharpay said walking towards him. I started to list different things I could do to completely ruin her life as she knows it. I could always throw all of her shoes into the ocean, but she's rich enough to buy about 100 pairs more.

"What?" He asked yawning and sitting in the chair I was sitting in not too long ago.

"How was the boardwalk?"

"What do you mean? Is there anything to eat?" Is there ever a moment that boys don't talk about food?

"Yeah, the cupboard." Mitch simply said once again turning away from the TV.

"What did you two do there?" She asked as innocently as she could. "Like did you ride the rides, buy clothes, play games, kiss…?"

I looked at Troy who was staring at me. He was a little pale, probably freaked out a bit. I didn't really have a plan, and I didn't really know what to do, so I blurted out the first thing that came to my mind.

"Sharpay thinks Mitch is hot!" I screamed and looked away from Troy and Sharpay. I fixated my eyes on the tiles of the ceiling.

"What she means is… well I uh…" I could hear Troy laughing silently but I didn't dare look at anyone. I could hear someone standing up and figured it was Mitch because he was actually the only one sitting on a couch. Jason was just sitting on the counter too tired to make sense of anything that was happening. I made the mistake of looking up and saw Mitch inches from Sharpay.

"Don't worry about it, everyone thinks I'm hot." And with that he left the room. Then Sharpay locked eyes with mine. He eyes were like knives.

"You bitch!" She screamed and started walking towards me. I just ran and stood on the couch.

"Shar, I warned you! It's your fault!" I screamed trying to avoid her swinging arms that were now trying to get me down.

"It's not like it's a big deal! So what? I asked Troy if you kissed! It's not like you two like each other!" I stopped and thought about that last part for a second then realized that she was still swinging her arms. I tried to dodge her left one but realized it was coming a little too late and the next thing I knew I was on the floor underneath of her.

"Guys…" I could hear Troy pulling Sharpay away, but my head hurt too much to get up. It was throbbing.

"Fine!" Sharpay screamed and stomped away probably toward her room. I still haven't moved and it didn't seem like anyone cared. I thought for another second about what Sharpay had said. Of course I thought Troy was hot, but who doesn't? I mean Mitch is hot too, but he can be a total ass sometimes… My thoughts were interrupted once again but this time it wasn't by an arm swinging to knock me down.

"Gabriella… are you ok?" It was Troy. I managed to open my eyes, I hadn't really known that I closed them, and look into his. "Gabby, does your head hurt?" NO duh you dumb ass, I just hit it on the kitchen floor!

I just kept looking into his eyes trying to find something, anything, that could give me the slightest hint that I liked him.

"Gabriella, you're scaring me. Say something!"

"Uh… yeah my head is fine." I said finally coming back to my senses. I tried to stand up but my head hurt too much so I just flopped back down.

He then put his hand underneath my now-bent knees and his other onto my lower back. It startled me a bit so I stiffened.

"Don't worry, I'm just picking you up." He said and chuckled so I relaxed into his arms. He started carrying me to mine and Taylor's room.

When we walked in Taylor was making her bed. She had made mine as well. I have to remember to thank her later.

"What happened?" Taylor was now alert and worried. I smiled; it's nice to be worried about. She must have took my smile the wrong way though. "Did you two … like have sex?" She asked.

I groaned and tapped my head against Troy's shoulder repeatedly. He just stood there completely uncomfortable.

"No, Sharpay just uh… knocked Gabriella off the couch and she hit her head…. Why does everyone assume that we did stuff other than go to the boardwalk?" He finally said after a while. He didn't wait for an answer before he put me down. Maybe it was rhetorical or something.

"Oh…" Taylor said looking at Troy and then at me apologetically before saying "Well are you alright?"

"I just have a headache." I said and sat up. I really, really needed an aspirin.

"Lay down!" They both said at once. Who do they think they are my parents!? Though I didn't argue.

I must have dozed off because I opened my eyes at four o'clock. Perfect. I missed lunch, and I didn't even eat breakfast. I got up ignoring the pain in my head and walked to the kitchen to get some food. On the couch were Troy, Mitch, and Sharpay. Troy just threw a pillow at Mitch's head because of something Mitch said before I walked in.

On the counter there was an open bag of chips, so I cleaned that bag out then opened the fridge for some real food. I came across an apple, banana, yogurt, and some cheese. I grabbed the apple, and the yogurt and sat at the kitchen table. I arranged everything in perfect order and finally looked up to three faces staring at me.

"Damn. This girl's got an appetite." Mitch announced to everyone in the room. I just glared at him.

Sharpay looked at me, then at the food, then at me. Memories from this morning came flying back to me and suddenly my head hurt again so I got up and got an aspirin.

"Your head feel any better?" She asked guiltily. I looked at her and saw that she was looking down at the blanket on the couch.

"It's been better." I said trying to lighten the mood. But this wasn't a funny situation. We both practically betrayed each other. Which for the record, she betrayed me first. Just getting that straight.

I just sat back down and ate my snack/meal then made my way to the chair across from the chair Troy was sitting on.

"Where's everyone else?" I asked quietly because my head was now pounding again.

"Beach." Troy answered calmly even though Mitch just threw the same pillow he just threw, back at him.

**Troy's POV**

You always hear about love at first sight, or the sparks you feel when you kiss your true love. I'm not saying that I'm in love with Gabriella Anne Montez, but when I carried her into her room I knew that I at least liked her. Now, looking at her sitting on the chair across from me, trying to hide the pain she feels in her head, is completely unbearable. I don't even fully understand why Sharpay freaked out. A lot of girls at school do think Mitch is hot. He's unfortunately used to it.

I could tell that Mitch wanted to start something, and ordinarily I would've thrown something back at him- but I didn't. I couldn't. At that moment I didn't think that it was worth it. Besides across the room a beautiful girl was staring directly back at me. She smiled so I smiled back.

"Oh my God!" Sharpay screamed breaking my stare with Gabriella.

"What?" Mitch asked.

"Oh my God!" Was all she said, and then pulled Gabriella out of the room. I would've stopped her, but I'm pretty sure she wasn't going to hurt her again so I just lay back down and waited for Mitch to start throw something.

**Gabriella's POV**

"Oh my God!" Sharpay screamed once more.

"Would you stop saying that!?" I was irritated beyond belief now.

"You like him!" Sharpay screamed.

"shh…" I said putting my hand across her mouth, but she just licked it and I was forced to remove it and wipe It off.

"Omg. You so do." She said more quietly.

"I do not. I just met the guy."

"Love at first sight."

"Don't believe in it. You have to fully know a person before you can fully trust them with your heart."

"Oh give it a rest! You like him!"

"Do not!"

"You so do. Just face the facts!"

It was no use argueing with Sharpay so I caved in.

" I don't know if I like him. Ok?" I finally admitted. Not only to her, but to myself.

"Oh my gosh! My best friend… and my other best friend… together…" She said smiling. "this is great!"

"we're not together Shar."

"But you will be."

"He doesn't like me."

"Yes he does! He looks at you like your already his girlfriend." She said smiling, and I couldn't help but smile back because it felt good to be liked.

"Well… I don't know if I like him."

"Would you stop saying that! Of course, you like him! What's not to like? He's smart, hot, funny, and not to mention completely into you."

"Well uh.. I don't know." I said and stood up from my spot on her bed. He room was a little bigger than mine and Taylor's, which didn't make much sense but I didn't question. After all, this was her house.


	8. I so do!

**Troy's POV**

"Shut the Fuck up Mitch!" I screamed after he started pestering me about Gabriella. Yeah, I like her but that's really none of his business.

He started making kissing noises, and talking about sex so I just got up and walked to my bedroom.

"Hey." Chad said as I shut the door. His voice was low and he was looking down.

"Uh…hi." I replied still really mad. I mean, he was supposed to be my friend and I can understand if I actually did break the vase, but I didn't. Mitch did. But no, of course Chad said that I did it, so I had to pay for it.

Jason walked in and glared at Chad just as he was about to say something. I wasn't in the mood to hear what Chad had to say. It didn't matter. Chad shut his mouth and walked out.

"So, we're all going to the beach. You in?"

"Who's going?" I asked. If it was just him and me I didn't really want to go. What was the point? Well I guess we could play football or something…

"Me, You, Chad, Mitch, and Taylor." He frowned when he said Chad and Mitch which made me laugh. But then I frowned again. What about Sharpay? Or Gabriella? "Taylor is asking the other two now."

I got up and walked back out to the kitchen to find Sharpay and Gabriella eating chips talking to Taylor. Well they weren't really eating the chips they were rubbing off the flavoring and eating it plain. I don't get why girls do that. They're not going to gain that much weight from a little bit of salt.

**Gabriella's POV**

These chips had so… much salt on them. It was disgusting. It was like their goal was to make the whole world fat. I didn't really want to go to the beach, but I felt like I had to because everyone was already planning what we were going to do so I reluctantly agreed then made my way to my bedroom and got into my brown and white bikini. Then I put on some gray soffee shorts and an old t-shirt that my dad had gotten for me when he went to Florida.

I grabbed a little tote bag that I had brought, and put a towel, some underwear, a bra, some snacks, and extra pair of clothes, and some drinks. On the way out of my room I grabbed some of my magazines and made my way to the living room. Troy was sitting at the counter eating chips, and Mitch was still on the couch. Does he ever move?

"When are we going?" I asked looking back and forth from both Mitch and Troy waiting for the answer from one of them. When neither of them answered I asked it in a different way. "Anytime soon?"

Troy looked at me like I was an idiot then said, "You obviously don't know Sharpay."

I sighed. He was right. We wouldn't be out there for another hour or so. So I sat down in the chair next to Troy's and looked at the television. He was still eating the chips not paying attention to me at all. So I grabbed a chip and rubbed the salt off and ate it. Still nothing. Why wasn't he paying attention to me? I told Sharpay that he didn't like me.

He was too busy watching the TV but I wanted him to look at me, to talk to me, to smile at me. But he wasn't. Being a boy, he couldn't possibly tear himself away from the TV. I sighed really loud to try and get him to at least glance at me, but he didn't. He kept his stare on the TV.

I leaned back on the two back legs of the chair. Still nothing. I was beginning to get aggravated so I let go of the table without thinking and brushed the hair out of my face. It wasn't the brightest idea because I landed on the floor within 3 seconds making a huge noise. That seemed to get Troy's attention.

"Are you ok?" He asked. Was I really this desperate for him to pay attention to me that I had to fall on my back, which by the way hurt like hell? Maybe I did like him. Aw, who am I kidding? I so do like him!

I looked up at him and realized how pathetic I was. He was just some boy that I would only know for the summer. Then I probably would never see him again. I shook my head to vanish the thought.

He probably took my head shaking the wrong way. "Well then, uh… maybe you should just stay home. I mean, that's twice you've fallen today." Aw crap! I really don't want to stay home. Well, I mean I did before, but I don't now.

"No. I don't want to stay home." I said as I got up from the ground and picked up the chair. I looked at him and couldn't help but laugh. I started cracking up at my stupidity and then at his confused face.

"Ok, we can go now." Sharpay had come out of her room carrying 2 bags and a lawn chair. She looked at me like I was crazy then sighed. "What was the big bang I heard from the other room?" I started laughing even harder, I couldn't see through the tears that now filled my eyes.

"She fell off the chair, and then started laughing..." Troy said. He seemed concerned enough so I was satisfied.

Still laughing a little, I grabbed my bag and walked out the door to the car. I climbed into the passenger seat and calmed myself down a little.

Troy and Mitch were the first out of the house. They both looked excited but angry at each other at the same time. Troy screamed 'shot gun' but Mitch pushed him into the bushes and started running toward the car. He opened the door fiercely but got disappointed when he saw me already sitting there. Troy wasn't that far behind him.

"Sorry, but I called it first." I said fake smiling at Mitch then winked at Troy. "By the way, you have a twig from the bush in your hair." I shut the car door.

**Troy's POV**

When we finally got to the beach it was getting a little cold outside so I put on the sweat shirt that I bought for myself last night at the boardwalk. It wasn't dark yet, but it wouldn't take that long before the only lights you could see were the ones shining off the ocean's water. Sharpay carefully laid out her pink beach towel and sat on top of it with her feet outstretched, leaning back on her hands. Her eyes were closed and she was facing the sky.

I looked over at Jason who was just looking at Mitch. Mitch was practically drooling at the sight of Sharpay lying there. I must say, she did look hot. I looked at Gabriella who didn't think that it was that cold outside. She was just letting her hair blow in the breeze. Chad wasn't really doing anything but playing with his feet in the sand. He hadn't said a single thing since he tried to talk to me earlier. Taylor sat down next to Sharpay on her own towel and leaned back also.

"So… football?" Mitch asked breaking the silence. He pulled his East High football out of Gabriella's bag and threw it at Chad. Chad reluctantly caught it and threw it back.

Chad never liked to play football. He hated the sport. I remember one time in fourth grade we were having some kind of spirit week for the local football team and we all had to bring in or wear something that had to do with football. Everyone was wearing their favorite player's football jerseys, they had face paint on, footballs, and bullhorns. Chad walked in casually wearing his basketball uniform, with a basketball, and East High colored face paint. It didn't surprise me much though, when Chad didn't argue about playing football with Mitch.

What surprised me was Gabriella's enthusiasm toward the game. She quickly got up and dusted the sand off her butt.

"I'm in." She smiled and put her hair up in a pony tail.

"Fine… I'll play too." Taylor said getting up and standing next to Gabriella.

"ok." Is all I said. If Gabriella was playing, I'll play too.

It took a lot of convincing but Jason reluctantly agreed. No one bugged Sharpay after she said no. The teams would be uneven anyway.

"Alright, Jason, Troy and Gabriella can be one team… and Me, Taylor, and Chad are another."

"What makes you think that you can decide the teams?" Jason asked. I could see that Jason was trying to start a fight and normally I would've had his back, but teams didn't really matter. Besides I was happy with my team.

"Well seeing as I'm the only one here who can actually play football…" Mitch started.

"Uhm… actually, you've never actually seen me play." Gabriella said. She sounded snobby, which normally I don't really like which is why I never even thought about dating Sharpay, but man, did she look hot when she was snobby!

"Well then, let's quit the chit chat and let's play." Mitch said then huddled with his team probably talking strategy.

We huddle too. My face was right next to Gabriella's and I liked it. I could've dealt without my face right next to Jason's too because he really needed a breath mint. But I could smell her breath, and feel it against my skin. It felt good.

"You got it?" She suddenly asked looking right at me. Had she really been talking?

"Uh… got what?" I asked stupidly. This was going to be a long game…

**Sorry that it's kind of short. I've been busy with stupid summer reading. And now, since I'm going into high school next year I have to do this stupid math packet as well. It's insane. Well gotta go. I have work in an hour. **


	9. Accidents

**Troy's POV**

I could feel myself letting myself trail off again, but her hair smelled so good. I quickly shook my head trying to get myself to concentrate.

"What? You don't like the plan?" She asked. Mitch coughed impatiently in the back ground. But right now it was just me and Gabriella, face to face, breath to breath, head to head. Ok, Jason was there too. But whatever.

"Troy!" I suddenly was pulled away from my thoughts again. This time it was Jason's voice though.

"The game plan? Do you get it?" I looked at Gabriella and she looked a little frustrated. Even though she looked really hot angry, I didn't like the fact that she was angry at me so I nodded in agreement to this so called plan. How bad could it be anyway?

"Finally!" Mitch screamed as we stopped huddling. I just bent down in front of him getting ready to run forward.

"Ok, Troy get ready…" Jason whispered beside me. Get ready for what? What was I supposed to do? I was about to ask him when screamed 'hut'.

I ran forward and turned around. Jason was running toward me screaming 'turn around!' but something else caught my attention before I managed to turn around. Gabriella was lifting up her shirt, or pretending to, making me, Chad, and Mitch all stop in our tracks and wait as she threw the ball. I think it was supposed to go towards me, but Jason saw that I wasn't paying attention to the ball and pushed me out of the way and caught it himself and ran to the end zone completely untouched.

It took a while for me to comprehend what just happened. It was so unreal, and even though it felt like it took a long time, it only took about 20 seconds for the whole incident to happen: Gabriella pretending to flash us, her throwing the ball, me landing on the ground, and Jason catching the ball and making it to the end zone.

Now my arm hurt severely, and Gabriella was making her way to Jason to congratulate him. Mitch and Chad were arguing that what she did was completely unfair, and Sharpay was laughing her ass off. Taylor was the only one who was walking to me.

"You ok?" She asked once she reached me.

"Yeah…" I said as I got up clutching my wrist.

"You don't look ok."

"It's probably just a simple sprain." I answered making my way to Jason and Gabriella dropping my wrist as to not draw attention to my pain.

"Dude, I thought you understood the plan."

"Yeah, I wasn't really listening…" I answered and looked at Gabriella.

"Alright, now that you three have had your fun, let's play some real football." Mitch said a little too full of himself even for him.

"Fine, two hand touch or tackle?" Gabriella asked.

"Two hand touch!" Taylor practically screamed. I could see why too. She was a little on the short side and was quite thin. If one of us tackled her she might break in two. Gabriella was the same way.

"Alright, two hand touch on the ladies, and tackle the guys." Jason said. He probably really, really wanted to tackle Mitch.

We started the game 0-0, after a really long argument that our points should still count. My arm didn't hurt that much anymore and I stretched it and shook it every now and then making sure.

"ok. So Troy you go right, Gabriella you go left, and I'll fake a pass to Troy, and then pass the ball to Gabriella behind the line of scrimmage then take off sprinting while Gabriella throws it to Troy. Got it?"

"Yeah.. sure." Gabriella said still processing what it is she actually had to do. I was pretty confused myself.

"uh… right. So all I have to do is run to the right?" I asked.

"Yes Troy, that's all you have to do." Jason said sighing. It's not my fault his plan was confusing. Gabriella's was much easier to understand, I just wasn't listening at the time.

"Alright let's go!" Gabriella screamed and jogged over to the line of scrimmage.

"Hut!" Jason screamed and the game began.

I went right just like I was told and Mitch followed me but then let me go as he saw that I wasn't really a potential threat anymore. He started to go after Jason who was running to the left. Gabriella was being chased by Taylor and they were laughing and having a ball. But then the ball was thrown, straight to me and I caught it this time in the end zone.

Jason screamed with victory and Sharpay clapped her hands joyfully. I wonder if she actually wanted to play. But then Mitch tackled me to the ground, in the end zone, after the play was finished. He was probably just pissed that he was following me and let me run off by myself. It just so happened that I landed on the arm I had fallen on before. The one that was probably now more serious than it had been. The one that now caused pain that pierced through my body. The one that made me scream when I landed on it for the second time.

**Gabriella's POV**

After I had thrown the ball, Taylor had hugged me and congratulated my throw, which was surprisingly on target. Then she playfully tackled me to the ground. We laughed hysterically. It was fun playing football with boys. But then we heard someone scream and we looked up and saw Mitch on top of Troy.

"Oh no." Taylor said and shot up. So what? Mitch tackled Troy. What was the big deal? But she ran over to them and I followed confused.

"You asshole! The play was over! What is your fucking problem?!" Jason screamed pulling Mitch off of Troy.

It was then that I got a sight of Troy's arm. It was swollen and he was holding it for his life. I gasped at the sight of it realizing that it was now, probably broken. Troy stood up carefully not letting go of his arm. He then tried to laugh it off, but no one was laughing with him.

"Dude…" Chad managed to spit out. I just looked at him. Is that all he could say?

"I'll just go sit with Sharpay…" Troy said trailing off then turning away abruptly and heading over to Sharpay.

"No, you have to go to the hospital." Taylor argued and pulled him back toward the parking lot. Sharpay had already packed up all her stuff. She followed them to the car and me, Mitch, Chad, and Jason just stared there completely horrified by what just happened.

"What the hell were you thinking?" I finally managed to spit out. I was suddenly angry.

"I-I don't know." Mitch replied then looked at me.

"Seriously dude, it's just a game." Chad spoke up against his friend that he ditched Troy and Jason for. Mitch didn't respond he just kicked the sand angrily and screamed a couple of profound words. Jason, to my surprise, hadn't screamed anything at Mitch. In fact he hadn't really said anything since he saw Troy's arm.

"So... Uh... Let's walk home then." I said breaking the awkwardness that now flooded the air around us.

No one said anything but we all started walking back toward the house. We were walking in an uncomfortable silence when the fighting began.

"I just don't understand why you had to tackle him!" Jason started.

"Shut the fuck up Jason" Mitch replied. He sounded dead inside. That sounds really dramatic, but it was true. Well kinda. He sounded… tired maybe?

"Guys, fighting isn't going to change anything…" I said while stepping in between them so they wouldn't start fist fighting.

"Don't you have a god damn brain!?" Jason screamed, obviously ignoring my words of wisdom.

" I told you to shut up, don't make me say it again!"

"Or what you'll break my arm too?!" And that was it, Mitch reached over my head and punched him. Jason pushed me out of the way to punch Mitch back.

"Guys c'mon…" I said stepping in between them once again trying to pull them apart.

"Shut up Gabriella!" Jason screamed too angry to realize that he has actually just punched me in the face. Chad helped me up and we walked back to the house together, without Mitch and Jason.

We got back to the house around 8, so I went to the bathroom to look at my eye in the mirror. It hurt just like any other bruise that might have been on my body at the time. But something about it seemed worse.

"Gabriella I made pizza!" Chad screamed from the kitchen so I went out of the bathroom and sat at the counter waiting for my slice.

"Ok, well I didn't really make it, but I microwaved the extra pizza we got for lunch earlier." He turned around toward me and looked at my eye for the first time that night. "You should really put ice on that." He made his way toward the freezer and pulled out an ice pack that Sharpay had brought just in case. You can always tell when something is Sharpay's because it will either have an 'S' on it or it will be covered in pink.

I giggled because he was so stupid. Well not stupid, but clueless. We started to watch a movie when the front door opened. I looked toward it and saw Sharpay walking in. She quickly looked around the house then towards us.

"Where's Mitch and Jason?"

"Killing each other somewhere on the beach." Chad responded not looking away from the TV.

"Oh… Oh my gosh! What happened to your eye?!" She said as she ran towards me. Troy and Taylor made their way inside as she grabbed my face examining my eye carefully.

"Jason punched her. Well it was kind of an accident because he wasn't really paying attention at the time." Chad explained.

"Jason did what!?!?!" Troy screamed angrily. I made me feel special that he would care so much about me.

"It's really not that bad…" I tried to calm him down but it wasn't working. My face was still in Sharpay's grasp so I couldn't really get a good look at Troy.

Troy's face was not as close as Sharpay's was and he was examining my eye as well. His breath smelled really good even though he was cooped up in the hospital for a couple of hours.

"Not that bad? It's like the color of Barney!" He said.

I giggled at his logic. "Barney?" I asked smirking. Or at least as close to smirking as I could do with Sharpay's hands pressed to my cheeks.

"Barney?" She turned to him in disbelief.

"I have a little brother." He said and refocused himself on my eye.


	10. When he's around

**Troy's POV**

I could tell right away that Gabriella was down-sizing the pain. Her eye and parts of the right side of her cheek looked like they'd been painted purple. Every time Sharpay moved her hands just a little bit, Gabriella would wince.

"Seriously guys, its fine…" she said trying to pull away from the grasp of Sharpay. That can be hard to get away from. Trust me.

"Wait!" Sharpay screamed at the now agitated Gabriella. I reached over and touched the bruised part of her cheek with my good arm.

"Does that hurt?"

**Gabriella's POV**

HE TOUCHED ME! It felt so good. His hands were so soft against my skin. He pulled his hand away. I want him to touch me again! That didn't feel anything like the hand holding now that I knew that I liked him.

"Does that hurt?" He asked calmly. God I love his voice!

"Uh… no…?" I said more like a question because it actually did hurt like hell, but I couldn't let them know that.

"Yes it does." Sharpay said looking at Troy. Troy just nodded his head in return and looked back at me.

"And Jason did this?" Troy asked reaching again to touch the right side of my face.

"Yeah..?" I wasn't exactly sure if I should've stuck up for Jason or not but It was already a little too late because guess who came walking through the door? You guessed right… hopefully anyway.

Mitch walked in followed by Jason. Jason's nose was bleeding, and Mitch had a cut along his lip. Mitch looked like he could attack anyone in the room if they talked to him, and Jason was just as pissed.

"What the hell Jason!?" Troy screamed. I looked over at him for the first time since they walked in. He was equally as pissed, but not at Mitch this time. Surprising, I know.

"Look, I'm sorry I didn't realize until after they left…" Jason said as if he'd been explaining the same thing over and over again. "It wasn't really my fault. He started it."

"No he didn't!" Chad defended. He stood up as if claiming that he meant what he said. At the same time everyone turned toward me, including Mitch and Jason. I was debating the fact whether to blame Mitch and lie because Troy got in trouble for the vase and it only seemed fair, or rat out Jason who was glaring at me as if to say he'd kill me if I didn't lie.

"Well, who started it?" Troy was growing impatient. I wanted to smile but I couldn't. Everyone was depending on me to tell the truth, or what they thought was the truth. I suck at lying so I don't think that that would be the best idea right now. But then again I don't really want to die either. This is hard!

"Gabriella!" Troy screamed. I quickly turned at faced him. "Who started it..?"

"I don't even see why that little detail matters. So if I say that Mitch started it you won't still be mad at Jason? And If I say Mitch started it you'll be mad at him? What's the point!?" I yelled. I didn't realize I had been yelling until after I was finished. Everyone just stared at me shocked.

Mitch opened his mouth to talk but changed his mind once Troy glared at him.

"Ok… well I think I'm going to go and take a shower…" I said standing up from my spot in front of Sharpay and Troy and walked past them to the bathroom.

Once in the bathroom I turned on the faucet and sprinkled some water onto my face to calm me down. I leaned over the sink and looked at myself in the mirror. My eyes were all wet and puffy and it looked like I'd been crying. Had I? I don't remember. I remember the anger on Troy's face and thinking it was because of me. I remember feeling guilty when Jason glared at me, and when Mitch and Chad did too.

I grabbed a piece of toilet paper and wiped my eyes and nose. I looked in the mirror again and took a closer look at my bruise. A smile spread across my face when I touched the parts of my face Troy had touched.

After about 30 minutes of staring at my reflection I decided to just wet my hair and pretend as if I'd actually taken a shower. I put on my blue bathroom robe and walked out. Sharpay's bedroom door was closed and I could hear giggles coming from the other side so I figured her and Taylor were in there gossiping or something. I made my way to the kitchen to get a little snack since I hadn't eaten the pizza Chad heated up.

"Hey…" I turned around and saw Troy on the couch. I smiled at him then remembered how mad he got because of me, all because I couldn't tell the truth. I frowned and turned back to the fridge feeling guilty. He was only trying to yell at Jason for hitting me. I heard him get off the couch as I was rummaging through the fridge. His footsteps were getting closer, really closer.

"I'm sorry… for screaming at you like that, I was just.." He said from right behind me. I turned around to interrupt him.

"I know… trying to help…" I said turning back to the fridge. Something about him being so close was messing with my head. I don't know why but I really, really want to cry right now. I know it sounds silly, but I can't help it. Maybe I'm PMSing.

"Gabby…" He started but didn't finish because Mitch emerged from his bedroom.

"Going out… see ya guys later." He then took Sharpay's keys and walked outside into the night. What time is it? I looked at the clock and read 1:00 A.M. Where the hell is he going?

"Listen, I was just trying to understand what happened. I still would've been mad at Jason no matter what you said." What he was saying wasn't making sense to me, right now. I mean, I'm sure it made perfect sense but my brain is all messed up right now. I was now frustrating myself.

"Gabby…? You ok?" I turned around and had streams of tears falling down my cheeks. He hugged me tightly and I felt safe and secure but it made me cry more. What the hell?

"I don't know why I'm crying." I said while laughing at how stupid I was acting. It didn't make any sense to me. All I know now is the fact that when he's around I can't control my emotions. Everything he does sends different hormones crashing through my body.

I looked down at his arm which was now by his side and not around me.

"What about your cast?"

"It's not broken. Just badly sprained." He replied


	11. Picking Names

**Troy's POV**

Nothing about last night was anything like my normal life. It was different; exciting maybe. First off, I nearly broke my arm. I haven't broken a bone in my body except for when I was two and I broke my ankle. I don't remember what happened, but I still have a scar. Then I got the courage to touch  
Gabriella's face. It was simple, as if I had done it before. I had touched her hand, but it was different. I almost blew everything by yelling at Gabriella but then it was all better when I hugged her. The hug was phenomenal. If we never kissed and only hugged I'd probably survive.

Mitch had woken us all up at 6:30 in the morning so we could get McDonald's breakfast. I hate McDonalds! It's disgusting! Well, except for the fries.

"My mom is pissing me off!" Jason screams out of nowhere. He had been texting someone for about 10 minutes now, but no one seemed to care enough to ask him who it was.

"Why?" Sharpay asked in a monotone, showing that she didn't care if he answered her or not.

"She won't shut up!" I hate when moms do that. But it's better than what my mom is doing to me. She's ignoring me. She blocked my number from her phone, and the house phone. Everytime I try to talk to her the voicemail lady says _'I'm sorry but you're number has been blocked from this phone.'_ You'd think I'd killed a man from the way my mom is acting.

I hadn't really thought about her that much, though, until Jason brought her up that is.

"Well that's because she loves the little baby." Mitch said squeezing Jason's cheeks before being pushed away.

Was he implying that if your mom ignores you that she doesn't love you? I just decided to tune them out and watch the little kids playing in the jungle gym. The conversation didn't interest me anyway.

"What are we going to do today?" Gabriella asked from across the table. Now this interested me. I turned a little too eagerly back towards everyone.

"What's your problem?" Jason asked looking at me in a strange way. I didn't answer him because I was still ignoring him, or at least trying to.

"Let's go shopping on the boardwalk!" Sharpay said and then got really excited making plans of where to go and what stores are best.

"NO!" I screamed causing most of the parents around the restaurant to turn and glare at me as if I was teaching their kids a bad lesson.

"Alright, calm down. I know where there's this perfect mall. It's HUGE!" Sharpay again got really excited.

"No shopping!" I said a little more quietly. I hate shopping with Sharpay. She spends hours on end in either a clothing or shoe department.

"Who here wants to go to the mall? Show of hands…" All the girls raised their hands and so did Mitch. Why Mitch wanted to go shopping I have no idea? We all stared at him in disbelief.

"But… it's more of a contest." He declared and Chad's hand shot into the air as well. I just exchanged confused glances with Gabriella and Jason.

"You see, we each get the same list, and we have to get as many pictures of you and your partner or group of 3 that's on the list within a time period." I've played this game once before but I decided never to play again after I was tackled by a security guard and banned from the mall closest to my house.

"But…" I tried to say but was interrupted.

"Shop lifting isn't on the list this time." Mitch stated. He was my partner back then! That was an interesting time.

"So what kind of stuff is on the list?" Taylor spoke up. She hadn't spoken most of the morning.

"I don't know… get into something you normally wouldn't be able to… maybe put on something in the kids department or something… it can really be anything."

"Not doing it." Taylor and Gabriella said at the exact same time.

"Why not ladies?" Mitch asked trying to sound cooler than he is.

"I'm not getting in trouble!" Taylor said sternly and Gabriella nodded in agreement.

"c'mon guys… you won't get in trouble.." Mitch was trying extra hard to sound sincere.

"I would… but I can't." Gabriella managed to say before looking around the table at all the disappointed faces staring at her.

Mitch then faked a sigh and said "Well then I guess we can't play, guys…"

"What do you mean?" Gabriella asked guiltily. I hated to see her sad and guilty but I really wanted to play now.

"Well the teams have to be even…" I said looking at her. "But we can do something else…" I said looking at Mitch and he smirked.

"Wait, why can't it just be 3 against 2?

"Because then the team with 3 has an advantage." I said sounding sad. I quickly looked at Taylor who was shaking her head at me. She was the stubborn one and she knew it. She also knew that Mitch and I were tricking her into playing with us.

"Well maybe we could… no, that wouldn't work either." Mitch started and looked at Gabriella sadly.

"Well we could… nope." I said adding to his plan. I couldn't look at Gabriella though. If I did and she was sad then I'd end up telling her the truth.

"Well, I mean… I guess I could play." She said looking down at the table. I could tell she didn't want to play, and I felt bad for making her feel guilty but it will be fun. I just have to get her on my team.

"Alright! We just have to pick names out of a hat and those will be our team members. 2 teams of 3 or 3 teams of 2?" Mitch asked very enthusiastically. I looked at Chad waiting for him to answer but when he didn't I looked back at Mitch. Mitch was waiting for me to answer. Wait a second, why does he care what I think?

"Uh… 2 teams of 3?"

"Alright… team captains?" I hate being team captain. It sucks because everyone does what they want anyway and if you try to control them they always tell you that you're being bossy. Basketball is different though, of course. You always have the coach on your side.

Sharpay poked her head up. She loves being in charge. It gives her satisfaction to be bossy.

"Alright, how about the two ladies are our captains?" Mitch asked.

"Oh... That's ok, really. You guys can be a captain. I'm just fine being bossed around." Gabriella said. Was she always this shy?

"All you do is pick names out of the hat. Easy as that." I said to her and she nodded in agreement. Mitch wrote down the names of everyone sitting at the table except Taylor.

Gabriella picked first and pulled out Jason's name, and then Sharpay picked Mitch's. With only Chad and me left it was only a 50-50 chance that she would pick my name. It was very nerve racking as she slowly reached her hand into Mitch's hat and picked out a white piece of napkin with pink writing from Sharpay's pen on it.


	12. And so it begins

**Wow... It's been an awful long time since I last updated this story, and I truly am sorry for that. I just lost every idea that I had in my head that goes with this story and lost focus. Now, almost a year later, I lost the character's personality so I'm sorry if they don't seem like they were before. I'm working on it though. Well, enjoy. **

**Gabriella's POV**

As I reached my hand into Mitch's baseball hat, I realized how much I wanted the piece of paper to say 'Troy'. I willed my hand to pick his name with all the might I had in my head. Maybe it was his smile or the way his hair fell slightly into his face. Whatever the case my mind wasn't strong enough and out of the hat came the word 'Chad'. I inwardly groaned as to not make him feel bad.

"Chad." I said with as much enthusiasm as I could muster, which wasn't very much. Troy looked down which caught the attention of Sharpay and Mitch. I smiled to myself knowing that he was just as upset as I was. I put the piece of paper that I was still holding back on the table and looked around. "So, when does this start?"

"Taylor has to finish writing what we have to do." Chad spoke up and I focused my attention back on Taylor who was scribbling quickly.

"Well, actually- why don't we switch the teams completely?" Mitch said after Taylor had said she was finished with the list. Everyone looked at him. "What do you guys think?" I shrugged indifferently and looked at Troy who did the same. Maybe he wasn't as upset as I was. Jason was looking around to see everyone else's reaction before he shrugged as well.

"Oh goody!" Sharpay screeched a little too loudly which earned her several glares from around the restaurant. "I pick Chad." Chad groaned from beside me and I started laughing. "And I pick... Jason." Troy looked up from where his eyes were fixated on the table. He looked between me and Mitch to ask if what she was doing was fair. After Mitch shrugged, I let out a sigh of relief. I was so happy that I was on Troy's team that I didn't even think of the fact that I was going to have to play referee for the rest of the day.

**Troy's POV**

I know this sounds weird and all after everything I said about him in the past, but man was Mitch a lifesaver! I wondered if he did it on purpose and if I should thank him but decided against it. After all we're talking about the guy who once pulled down my shorts during one of the playoff games for basketball last year. How he got on the court is beyond me, but he managed to leave with only two detentions. Although we're also talking about the guy who gave me his ice cream after mine fell in the sand when we were seven.

"Ok. So are we cool with these teams?" Sharpay asked and Jason looked at me desperately, probably hoping not to be on Chad's team after what happened.

"Yeah. I don't mind them." I said which earned me a glare from both Chad and Jason.

"Shouldn't we just stay with the teams we originally picked?" Jason growled while also glaring at me.

"You're still on his team either way." I said back slowly.

"What the hell happened to bros before hoes?"

"Am-am I the hoe in this scenario?" Gabriella asked looking at everyone to see what they had to say. Mitch nodded amusedly and then stood up.

"Stop bickering like a bunch of old ladies going through menopause and let's get this game going." Mitch said while clapping his hands. The ladies in the restaurant didn't seem to appreciate Mitch's opinion on menopause. Gabriella stood up beside me so I mirrored her movements and stood up for myself.

"Fine." Jason growled and snatched a list from Taylor's hands. Taylor only returned his attitude with her own.

"Don't ever snatch anything from me again or I will sneak into your room and cut off your favorite appendage." Chad chuckled and Mitch and I winced. We expected Taylor to crack a smile but when she didn't we realized she was dead serious so we quickly exited the restaurant.

"So what do we do first?" Gabriella asked timidly looking between me and Mitch. Mitch shrugged.

"Let's start from the bottom." He decided and turned the paper over.

"I think we should just start from the top." I said while taking the paper from his hand's.

"No. The bottom is more fun."

"Which means the top will be easier and quicker."

"But then we'll just be saving the hard stuff for last."

"So?"

"It'd be better to just start with the worst so that way the rest is a piece of cake."

"I don't like cake."

"Well I don't give a shit and actually you do. You like ice cream cake." I opened my mouth to protest but he just continued on. "Don't even deny it."

"Guys, I'd hate to interrupt you're petty argument but the other team already entered the mall." Gabriella said while pointing at Sharpay's backside opening the door to our destination. Mitch and I broke out into full run over to the same doors Sharpay had just walked into. Gabriella sighed and followed along.

**Ok, So I'm going to start with short chapters for now. Tons of school work and everything. Plus I'm also going to be working on **_That should be Me _**and possibly **_Serving Saturday. _**This might not be updated again for another two weeks or so and I'm sorry but I really can't do anything about that. I'm going to the beach and school starts back up on the eighth of September. Besides I have to figure out where I'm going with this story again because of how long it's been since I actually worked on it. **


	13. Kiss, Kiss, Kiss

**Gabriella's POV**

"Fit into something you wouldn't normally fit into." Troy read as he scrunched his eyebrows together. He looked from me to Mitch and then back to me again. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Thinking about it for a moment I decided on the perfect idea.

"Why don't we just put one of you in a dress?" Both of them turned to me with wide eyes. I couldn't help but laugh at their reactions.

"NO way in hell am I getting into a dress." Troy blurted out and so we both turned to Mitch.

"OK, I could get into a dress and get kicked out or.." He started holding out the 'or' for dramatic effect. "we could put Gabriella into a dress that's much too small." I frowned. This was not the way it was supposed to happen.

"No. I don't see that happening."

"Why not, Gabs?" Troy asked from where he was standing next to Mitch.

"Gabs?" I asked with a smile. I'd never really gotten a nickname before except for when my parents call me Gabi.

"Well... yeah. You're name's too long. No offence." He was now a bright state of crimson and I couldn't help but giggle.

"Aren't you two just adorable?" Mitch stated with a sarcastic tone. "Now if we want to win we've got to finish the next three before they finish their list."

"Fine." I said while groaning. I picked out a bright pink dress from the little girls section. It wasn't really my style but what did it matter right? To my dismay, putting it on wasn't really all that hard. It slipped right on. I couldn't help the pride that flashed through my brain. It wasn't until I turned towards the mirror that I could tell it didn't really fit. It was skin tight and really short. In my opinion I could've worn it with jeans and called it a shirt. In addition to the shortness my boobs didn't want to stay hidden.

"Can we do something else?" I asked quietly to the boys who were standing outside the dressing room.

"Why?" Mitch groaned out.

"Well, it's very... revealing." I whispered the last part, afraid of what other fellow shoppers would hear. I heard them both chuckled and I sighed at their immaturity level.

"No duh. It's a kids dress." Mitch answered rather rudely if I do say so myself.

"I'm sure it's not that bad. We don't have much more time. You can change out right after." Troy stated.

"Yeah, after you take my freaking picture!"

"Oh come on. Don't be such a drama queen!" I heard Troy yell at Mitch for his choice of words. They started fighting so I decided it was time to break it up. As soon as I opened the door both of the males in front of me stopped and stared at me.

"Close your mouths and take my G-d Damn picture." I growled and they instantly obeyed. I slammed the dressing room door for the second time and quickly changed back into my less revealing clothes.

"What's next?"

About half an hour later we got to the last on the list. Already today I had managed to flash some old guys on a bench, do a random pole dance outside the mall, and walk around in just underwear for a good fifteen minutes. It seemed as if I had to do all the inappropriate things.

"Ok, so the last on the list is to kiss a girl with brown hair, a girl with blonde hair, and a girl with a tattoo." I read out as both the guys looked at each other.

"You can have that one dude." Mitch said as he patted Troy's back.

"No way man!"

"My cheek is still red from that girl that I had to grind." I looked at Mitch's face and realized that it was true. I laughed remembering the situation and turned towards Troy.

"Fine." He growled out and went in front of us so we could take his picture when he finally made his move. A group of girls who appeared to be in college started walking towards us so Troy made his way up to them.

"Hello ladies." He said and some of them blushed while others scoffed and kept walking. Troy, seeing as his opportunity was fading grabbed a girl with bright blonde hair and kissed her. "Sorry. Dare." She raised her hand but he just ducked and ran to the other end of the walkway.

"Check one." Mitch said angrily. "That's not fair. She didn't hit you."

"I'm just too ninja for her." Troy shrugged and then moved on to a girl sitting alone on a bench reading a book. At first I was confused as to why he picked her but then I realized that she did in fact have a tattoo of a heart on her shoulder. He sat down next to her.

"Hi. I'm Troy. And you are?" He inquired and I laughed at his formalness.

"Not interested." Troy nodded but didn't move an inch.

"Neither am I actually." The girl swung her head around to look at him angrily.

"Excuse m-" But before she could finish her sentence he had already kissed her. When he pulled away though and got ready to run she leaned forward in hopes of capturing their lips once again. I could tell that he was trying his best to back away but it wasn't hard to notice that she spent some time at the gym.

"Shouldn't we go and help him?" I asked and turned to look at Mitch who appeared to be very amused.

"Nah." I turned back to Troy and the tattoo girl trying to figure out some way to help. He was pushing her off of him and it seemed to be working.

"What's going on over here?" A buff man walked up beside them holding two ice cream cones.

"I don't know Ricky. He just came up and kissed me. I told him to stop but he wouldn't." She said sweetly and I began to walk over to the scene but Mitch held me back.

"Hold up. There's no need for you to get beat up too." He said into my ear. "He'll be ok."

"Actually she was kissing me." Troy said as he stood up to leave.

"Why don't you ask your friends holding the camera to show you the footage?" She asked smugly. Troy turned to face us. It wasn't such a good idea considering _Ricky _saw it as an opportunity to punch Troy in the face.

"Let's go Shelly." Ricky said holding out his arm for Shelly to latch onto. They started to walk down the boardwalk so I turned my attention towards Troy. He was sitting up on the ground holding his face. Mitch and I ran up to him.

"Dude you ok?"

"Did you take the Fricking picture?" He grumbled still hiding the left side of his face in his hand.

"Yeah. I got it." I breathed out while pointing to the camera in my hands.

"Good." He removed his hand from his face in order to get up. Mitch helped as much as Troy would let him. By now the crowd that had appeared to watch the fight had scattered and went about their business. We started to walk back to the house where Taylor was waiting for the first team to arrive.

"Uh... You still have to kiss a brunette." Mitch pointed out as he read over the list making sure we did in fact get everything.

"What?"

"Well, it says that you have to kiss a blonde, brunette and a girl with a tattoo. You only kissed a blonde and that Shelly chick. You still need to kiss a brunette if we want to win."

"Mitch, I don't think it's that important." I said trying to get them to realize that kissing random girls wasn't such a great idea. "Last time it didn't end well."

"It doesn't have to be a random girl. It could be you."

"What?" Troy inquired for a second time.

"Well, she's brunette." Never once had I hated the color of my hair until now. It wasn't that I didn't want to kiss Troy because believe me, I did. But if it meant something to me and not to him, it wasn't fair was it?

"Well, I'm cool with it." He said and they both turned to look at me. Again with the peer pressure.

"Fine." I said as I ran a hand through my hair. He leaned in so I did too. It was awkward at first as we both realized that Mitch was just going to take our picture that all of our friends would see. Our lips were almost touching and my heartbeat was going out of control.

"Guys. We do have limited time, you know." Mitch pointed out annoyed at the speed we were going at. Out of annoyance Troy leaned down faster and our lips locked. It turned from anger into passionate and I couldn't help but move my hands up to his hair. His hands were at my waist and they didn't appear to be moving anytime soon.

"Guys!" Mitch screamed and we both turned to look at him. "We got what we need. They're car just passed. We gotta run!"

Troy and I looked at each other awkwardly before he smiled and I returned it. He opened his mouth to say something but his voice was drowned out by Mitch who was now sprinting down the street. "Hurry!" Without anything else to do, we took off after him.

**Ok, so this was supposed to be out on Monday but I couldn't write it because I needed to study and what not. So I hope you're not too mad with the wait. I'll update **_**That should be Me**_** sometime this weekend and then both of these will go weekly. One updated Saturday, the other Sunday. I can't update during the week because of school. Again I'm sorry for the wait but hopefully you enjoyed the kiss scene. :) **


	14. Not Love, Not yet

**Troy's POV**

We hurried through the back door just as Sharpay and her group were bursting through the front door. Taylor looked up surprised at both of our groups unaware of what the rush was. She looked back and forth confused as to why we were all panting and looking at her.

"What?" She said finally letting her confusion get the best of her.

"You were supposed to see which one of us came in first." Mitch explained through gritted teeth while bending over collecting the breath he had lost during the long run from across the beach.

"Oh. Well You could've told me that." She said after a moment of silence, then stood and made her way to the kitchen.

"Well?" Mitch again said just as irritated as he was before. I looked at Taylor who shrugged her shoulders and grabbed an apple from the fridge. Gabriella was standing next to me panting slightly, but also slightly giggling. Man, I loved that laugh. Well... Not loved. Not yet. Nope, not yet. Too soon. You know, I met her like 2 days ago. Actually 3, but who's counting? I'm sure not.

"You guys both came through the doors at the same time." Taylor said as she made her way back to the couch to retain her spot. She looked at all of our irritated faces and sighed. "I'm sorry. I wasn't aware I had to judge which one of you came home first, I thought I was just judging the pictures." Mitch groaned and threw the camera on the couch; an action that Jason repeated from across the room.

"Five minutes. You have five minutes to pick a winner." Mitch said as he made his way to our room. I looked after him and then back at Gabriella who giggled again. I smiled then followed after him to see what his problem was.

**Gabriella's POV **

Taylor called us back into the living room ten minutes later, not five like Mitch had given, but ten. Mitch wasn't too pleased but he sucked it up because she was a girl and according to him girls aren't as smart as guys. She left a couple of pictures that were blurry to the side of the table for us to explain when she asked for it.

"Ok. So at this current moment Sharpay's team is beating Gabriella's by one picture. This can change however if I decide that under the circumstances you were in if it is reasonable for the pictures to be blurry." Everyone nodded and Jason groaned at the amount of thought that Taylor was putting into this. I laughed and looked at Troy. He smiled his famous smile back which left my heart beating wildly.

Taylor pointed to a picture that Mitch had taken. You could see the form of Troy but nothing else was clear enough to tell apart. "What the hell is this?"

"Well, that was when Troy was doing the kiss a girl with a tattoo, brunette, and a blonde." Mitch said while pointing around the picture to try and point out something that probably would never be seen. "See, that's the tattoo."

"I went through all that shit and you can't take a fucking picture?" Troy half yelled at Mitch. Everyone looked at Troy in surprise.

"Dude, what the hell happened to your eye?" Chad asked the question that was on everybody's mind.

"Tattoo girl had a boyfriend." Mitch explained. "Which is why the picture is blurry." I rolled my eyes at his lie. The big guy didn't come until a while after the picture was taken. After the room had voted they decided that Troy's heroics deserved a point so now we were tied with Sharpay's team.

"And this one is?" Taylor asked once again pointing to a picture on the far side of the picture.

"Damn Mitch, You suck at taking pictures!" Troy groaned and ran a hand through his hair. His gorgeous hair that I would love to run my fingers through again. Like. I would LIKE to run my hands through.

"It's not my fault! We had to hurry!"

"It took you that long to take that picture?" Troy pestered and Mitch groaned.

"You two took forever to finally do it! I was waiting there for about five minutes!"

"Oh grow up. It wasn't five minutes. It was twenty seconds."

"Twenty seconds that allowed them to catch up to us."

"We would've been walking anyway, not sprinting down the damn beach!"

"Then you spent forever staring at each other afterwards! We would've been in the house at least a whole minute before them!"

"Shut up!" Taylor screamed as loud as I had ever heard her scream before, which was never, but nonetheless it was a scary side of Taylor. "Now somebody please explain this picture to me!"

"That was when Troy and Gabriella kissed." Mitch explained while sucking in a breath to calm himself down. He didn't like being told what to do, let alone being told what to do by a girl. I laughed and then realized what he just said and blushed. Everyone was looking at me and Troy for us to elaborate what Mitch had just revealed.

"She's a brunette! That was on the list." Troy said and I felt my heart break. He hadn't kissed me because he wanted to. He kissed me because I was the only option left. I felt tears coming to my eyes but ignored them and smiled. Taylor and Sharpay were giving me sympathetic looks but I ignored them.

"I have to pee." I said and pushed my way through everybody and into the bathroom.

**Troy's POV**

"I have to pee." Gabriella said without another word. She made her way forcefully into the bathroom ignoring Taylor and Sharpay who were trying to talk to her. Confused I turned to Mitch who shook his head at me.

"What? What did I do?" I asked. Mitch looked at me like I was an idiot while continually shaking his head.

"Are you an idiot?" Mitch asked as he sat down on the couch. I looked towards Sharpay and Taylor who had walked back into the room after trying to get Gabriella out of the bathroom.

"You better fix this Bolton." Sharpay warned and then went to sit next to Mitch on the couch. Taylor shot her a look that told her not to say anything else. Fix what? I looked at Taylor.

"She's homesick." How the hell am I supposed to fix that? I can't take her home. I don't even know where she lives. Mitch snorted and continued to shake his head. I took a seat at the counter near Jason who patted my back. The bedroom door opened and Gabriella emerged.

"I want to go home."


	15. What do I do?

**Troy's POV**

_"I want to go home" _

The words were playing over and over again in my head. I couldn't get them to stop. It wasn't working. My brain seemed to be going through a malfunction or something because I couldn't think about anything else. Everyone was silent, not knowing what to say. I looked at Sharpay hoping that she would say something to talk her out of it, but only nodded in return.

"Alright, We'll go back to my house" Sharpay said shrugging. I sighed in relief knowing that at least she was going to be at Sharpay's house when we got back.

"No, Sharpay. I want to go home. As in my house." Gabriella shot back and my smile fell instantly. She couldn't be going home. She just couldn't.

"C'mon Gabs. Think about this rationally." Sharpay stood from her spot on the couch and walked over to her best friend. I wanted-no I needed Gabriella to change her mind.

"I am thinking about this rationally." Gabriella argued, dropping her suit case down at her feet.

"Are you? Because the Gabby I know, the rational one, wouldn't just throw away her whole vacation because of a petty comment made by a jack ass." Sharpay's words were venomous. Mitch turned to look at me as if it was obvious who Sharpay was talking about. I quickly went over the conversations I had that day in my head, not once coming across anything that could lead to this dramatic exit.

"Troy's an idiot. Always has been, always will be. There's no way around that. Trust me, I tried to find one." Taylor helped. I opened my mouth in shock as it was confirmed that I was the problem. I tried to stand up to become part of the conversation, but Mitch grabbed me and pulled me back down. I looked at Chad for help who shrugged his shoulders as if there was nothing he could do. I sighed and continued to listen to the conversation happening before me.

"It's not about Troy." Gabriella spat. "Though I do admit he is a jack ass." Mitch chuckled softly next to me and I turned around to glare at him. He just smiled and shrugged in return.

"Then What's it about?" Sharpay countered stubbornly.

"What does it matter what it's about? I just- I want to go home." She finished softer. I looked at her sympathetically. As long as this wasn't happening because of something I did.

"It matters because I'm your best friend and haven't seen you in forever. So if it's about Troy and what he said then we can just kick him out. I see him all year. I never get to see you." Sharpay explained quietly as she looked back up at Gabriella. I looked up once again hearing my name being dragged back into the conversation. What the hell did I say?

"It's not about Troy!" Gabriella yelled frustrated by the accusations.

"Are you sure?" Taylor asked making Gabriella turn to face her. "Because I'd be pretty pissed too."

"I'm not pissed. I just want to go home." Gabriella crossed her arms across her chest stubbornly. It was quiet for a moment as I looked back and forth at Sharpay and Taylor. Why weren't they saying anything? She obviously isn't thinking rationally. SAY SOMETHING!

Sharpay sighed and ran a hand through her hair. Good here it comes.. "Fine." She sighed. WHAT? Take it back. Take it back! "But can we at least wait until tomorrow? I just ran around the mall."

"Fine." Gabriella countered then made her way back to her room. As soon as the door closed everyone in the room turned to glare at me as if this was all my fault.

"What are you looking at me for?" I screamed. They all either groaned or sighed and left the room. "Seriously. I don't know what I did." I said more quietly considering nobody was in hearing range anymore.

**Gabriella's POV**

Stubborn would be an understatement. I know this. I've been told many times. _Gabriella stop being so stubborn. _or _Stubborn people are always hated, Gabriella. _I've heard it enough to know that everyone thought of me as stubborn, except me. The way I look at is I know what I want and nothing is going to change that. Unfortunately, others didn't.

"What are you looking at me for?" I heard Troy scream from the other room. I knew that when I shut the door they were going to talk about me. After all, I was the brat in this situation. I looked around the room making sure that everything was in fact packed. Everything except that stupid teddy bear that Troy had won the night we went to the boardwalk. The door opened and I turned to find Taylor looking at me sympathetically. I didn't want her sympathy.

"I think you should stay." She spoke softly. I opened my mouth to protest but she shook her head. "No, just hear me out. I know that you have the right to leave, and the reason to. Troy is a jack ass as I explained earlier, but leaving is just stupid. No offence. You came here to hang out with Sharpay, not Troy. So ignore Troy like he never existed to you because before 3 days ago, he didn't. Sharpay, though, she's been your friend for too long to just leave in the beginning of you vacation."

"But Taylor, if I change my mind now then I'm going to look like I wanted attention."

"No. They'll know that the awesome Taylor McKessie talked youout of it with her awesomeness." I giggled at my newly made friend. Even though I didn't know her for very long I feel as if I can tell her anything.

"I Just- I don't understand." I choked out trying to keep the tears that I knew would shortly pour down my face from forming.

"Neither does he."

"What does he have to understand?"

"The reason why you, the girl he's been crushing on for the past three days, is suddenly leaving because of something he did."

"He made it perfectly clear that he didn't like me."

"Actually he didn't. That was just your mind interpreting it differently than his brain did. He thought it was a way to explain the situation without having more questions asked. You thought it was his way of saying that he wasn't interested in you." I thought about what she was saying but couldn't respond. What was I supposed to say?

"Well, what do I do now?"

"Talk to him."


	16. Little Kisses

**Gabriella's POV**

I walked out of the bedroom and into the living room. Currently Troy was the only one sitting on the couch and he had his arms over his head. I opened the fridge and he quickly sat up in response. I glanced over at him and looked back into the fridge, grabbing a bottle of water.

"Are you going home?" He asked quietly. I looked over in surprise at the softness of his voice. His hair was disheveled. I shook my head in response and turned to grab an apple from the counter.

"No. I- I'm going to wait out the week." I took a bite of the apple and went to sit on the chair opposite of the couch that Troy was sitting on. There was a brief moment of silence as we both took in the current situation.

"Was it because of me?"

"Honestly?" He nodded and I sighed hoping that I wouldn't have to go through the embarrassment of telling the truth. "Yeah."

"Well, what did I do?" I knew the question was coming but had yet to come up with an answer. Honestly, I didn't know what upset me so much. Well, I did, but I didn't know how to tell him. If he didn't feel the same way then the rest of the summer would be extremely awkward. I took a deep breath and just stared at him.

"Why did you kiss me?" I asked quietly avoiding eye contact.

"Because it was on the list." He answered and I felt my heart drop once again.

"Well, then there's your answer." I said as I walked out the back door to get away from it all.

**Troy's POV**

"Well, then there's your answer." She said as she walked out the back door. I looked after her not exactly sure what she was getting at. Over and over again I replayed the words until they made sense. So, she did like me! A smile formed on my face as I took it all in. Well this is just great! She actually likes me back.

"Dude, stop smiling and go and get your girl." I turned quickly to see Mitch sitting on the counter with a bag of chips, MY bag of chips, looking at me like I was stupid.

"Those are my chips!" I screamed as I shut the back door behind me.

"Not anymore!" I heard him scream back but I didn't have time to answer. Instead I sprinted towards the brunette who was walking by herself along the water's edge.

"Gabriella!" She turned around surprised but then looked back at the sand embarrassed and I couldn't help but smile at the blush that appeared on her cheeks. "wait."

"What do you want Troy?"

"I just wanted to say that I like you too."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, I mean just because I kissed you because it was on the list doesn't mean that didn't want to kiss you before that. And it sure as hell doesn't mean I didn't like it."

"Really?"

"Yeah." And that was the last thing we said before our lips touched again. I knew at that exact moment that this was going to be one memorable summer.

**Sorry it's really short. I've had some writer's block. I know, it sucks, but I thought that I should update anyway because it's been a while. Well, Don't forget to review! :)**


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